Bachmann EFE Rail OO E87057 GWR 10Ton Bloater Express Fish Van GWR Brown Lettered G W

The GWR ‘Bloater’ vans were built for fish traffic from 1916 onwards, to replace an ageing fleet of older designs used to transport fish. Due to the nature of the cargo, the vans were reserved solely for fish traffic and worked mainly from the major fishing ports in Cornwall and Pembrokeshire. Classed as Non-Passenger-Carrying Coaching Stock (NPCCS), the vans were through-piped for steam heating and were rated to run at express speeds with passenger trains. Three variants of the ‘Bloater’ are covered by these all-new EFE Rail models – the Diagram S8, S9 and S10. Within these diagrams could be found vans fitted with vacuum brakes and those fitted with both vacuum and Westinghouse air brakes – the latter were coded ‘Bloater A’, but by the early-1930s these had seen their air brakes removed and were recoded to ‘Bloater’.