Accurascale OO ACC2048 BR ex-SR D1478 Banana Vans 1948-1961 Triple Pack BR Bauxite Geest Bananas
Pack of three Southern Railway diagram D1478 insulated banana vans in British Railways bauxite livery. Wagon numbers S50704, S50629 & S50651.
Detailed models of the distinctive Southern Railway design banana vans used for traffic from Southampton docks. Through the 1920s the Southern had hired banana vans from the LNER, so these vans were new in the 1930s, by which time the insulation alone had proven capable of maintaining the constant temperature needed for transporting fruit, so did not have the extra ventilators and steam heating of older designs.
Following the docking of a refrigerated banana ship several block trains of these banana vans would have been dispatched from Southampton to the major fruit markets across Britain. These banana trains were equipped with vacuum train brakes throughout, so ran at express goods speeds, up to 60mph.