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GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton
Leamington Spa - GWR Locomotives: gwrls4062a
Close up of image 'lnwrlave4062' showing Great Western
Railway rolling stock passing behind the GWR station on 26th May 1925. The four
GWR passenger rated stock seen in the background of this photograph of
Leamington are from left to right:
a) Six wheeled, 27 foot 6 inch long ventilated van with a
low height three centre roof (6ft 8in) built to diagram O4. These ventilated
vans were designed for carrying milk traffic in churns and were given the
telegraphic code ‘Siphon’. They were fitted with vacuum brakes so
that they could travel at express passenger train speeds and painted in an
overall brown livery with yellow lettering. The diagram O4 was the last of the
non-bogie types having three double doors provided on each side to enable
quicker loading and unloading of the milk churns. There were 283 of this
diagram O4 van built in twenty lots between February 1896 and December 1899
with many surviving into British Railways ownership.
b) Six wheeled, 27 foot 6 inch long ventilated van (Siphon)
to diagram O1. These had only two double doors on each side and a low height
three centre roof. The horizontal beam on the end profile is a feature of these
early vehicles of which 105 were built between July 1889 and March 1893.
c) Six wheeled, 29 foot long Passenger Brake Van (PBV) to
diagram V8. These vans had a central brake compartment with lookouts for the
guard on each side and luggage compartments (10 foot 7 inches long) on either
side. These compartments had small square end windows and were accessed by
window less double doors. For comparison the roof height of these vehicles was
7 foot 3 inches.
d) Eight wheeled bogie, 40 foot long Passenger Brake Van
(PBV). This appears to be one of the three types of 40 foot PBV (diagrams K14,
K15 and K16). The table below lists all ninety:
| Lot No |
Diagram No |
Quantity |
Date completed |
Running numbers |
| 865 |
K14 |
Twenty |
March 1898 |
1071, 1072, 1073, 1074, 1975, 1076, 1077, 1078, 1079,
1080, 1081, 1082, 1083, 1084, 1085, 1086, 1087, 1088, 1089, 1090 |
| 883 |
K14 |
Ten |
August 1898 |
639, 640, 928, 929, 930, 931, 932, 933, 934 &
935 |
| 895 |
K14 |
Ten |
October 1898 |
631, 632, 936, 937, 938, 939, 940, 941, 942 & 943
|
| 911 |
K15 |
Ten |
March 1899 |
1091, 1092, 1093, 1094, 1095, 1096, 1097, 1098, 1099
& 1100 |
| 919 |
K16 |
Ten |
July 1899 |
1101, 1102, 1103, 1104, 1105, 1106, 1107, 1108, 1109
& 1110 |
| 1000 |
K15 |
Four |
October 1902 |
1111, 1112, 1113 & 1114 |
| 1017 |
K16 |
Ten |
February 1903 |
201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209 & 210
|
| 1024 |
K15 |
Six |
April 1903 |
1115, 1116, 1117, 1118, 1119 & 1120 |
| 1033 |
K16 |
Ten |
August 1903 |
211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219 &
220 |
The carriage roof board on the PBV indicates that this is a
Weymouth to Wolverhampton train. Weymouth was the port used by the Great
Western Railway for Channel Island goods traffic, which included not only
Jersey Milk and other dairy products, but also perishable fruit and vegetables;
in particular Tomatoes and New Potatoes. Servicing this market required
multiple special vacuum fitted trains operating daily under C headlamp codes to
quickly transfer the produce to the major conurbations. The ventilated Siphon
vans and accompanied by Passenger Brake Vans were ideal for carrying this
traffic and the May date would tie in with the New Potato Harvest. According to
the Great Western Magazine the 1925 Seasonal traffic was unusually heavy.
Robert Ferris
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