Parkside Kits O Gauge PS102 BR 12T Insulated Fish Van Diag 800
O gauge plastic wagon kit for the LNER and British Railways long wheelbase 12 ton insulated 'blue spot' fish van, LNER diagram 214, BR diagram 80.
BR built 1,000 of these vans based closely on the final LNER design they supplemented in service. Kit contains parts for oil or roller bearing axleboxes and transfers for BR livery. Supplied with sprung buffers, metal wheels and 3 link couplings.
The long wheelbase chassis of these vans allowed them to be run safely at passenger train speeds for express delivery of freshly landed East Coast fish to London markets. After the end of fish traffic many of these quite new vans were adapted as parcels vans (TOPS code SPV), some retaining their dirty white insulated van livery while others were repainted into rail blue with Express Parcels lettering. The last of the type were withdrawn from revenue service in the early 1980s, but many were used by the engineering departments as stores vans, latterly as internal user stores vans in yards, with 3 still listed as having allocated numbers, though all are believed to now be grounded bodies!