Dapol OO 4F-014-050 BR W2030 GWR Design Fruit D Express Fruit Van Maroon Weathered

The Fruit D was the last of the GWR design ventilated fruit vans, this design with three side doors not appearing until after WW2. The majority of these vans were built in the early British Railways years and were one of the last GWR types, still being seen in service in the early 1980s.
These long wheelbase vans were suitable for running in secondary passenger and parcels trains and were widely used for the growing express parcels business, rail services being able to provide rapid parcel transit times. Later as diesel traction took over on the Western region many Fruit D vans were used to convey spare parts for locomotives between depots for what was later named 'component exchange maintenance'.

This model painted in the BR maroon livery applied after 1957.