Slaters Plastikard O Gauge 7C020 SR 4 Wheel PLV/GUV Kit
This kit for the Southern Railway 4 wheel van with even planked sides can be built as the original SECR or SR passenger luggage van (PLV) with planked ends, or with end doors as a general utility van (GUV).
Supplied with metal wheels and sprung buffers
The design of these vans originates with the South Eastern & Chatham Railway shortly before WW1 as passenger luggage vans. The type was adopted by the SR as a standard design after grouping, with the same basic body design being adapted with end doors as general utility vans (GUV). Later builds featured '2+2' planking using alternate pairs of broad and narrow planks, with construction continuing into the early British Railways period. Widely known as 'Southern CCTs' (covered carriage trucks, even though most didn't have the end door features of the carriage truck) a significant number of these vans were still in use in 1980. Though most had been taken out of traffic by 1985 many survive today as useful tool and storage vans on heritage railways.
This kit builds the early even-planked design, the SECR vans lacking the side ventilators as shown, which are easily be added to model the SR built vans. The 2+2 planking can also be recreated by scribing the extra joints, refer to photos to pick the right planks to 'split'.