Accurascale OO ACC2047 Southern Railway D1478 Banana Vans 1936-1941 Triple Pack 1 Stone Livery Small Red Lettering
Pack of three Southern Railway diagram D1478 insulated banana vans in post-1936 white livery with small red lettering. Wagon numbers 50746 50650 & 50597.
Detailed models of the distinctive Southern Railway design banana vans used for traffic from Southampton docks. Through the 1920s the Southern had hired banana vans from the LNER, so these vans were new in the 1930s by which time the insulation had proven capable of maintaining the constant temperature needed for transporting fruit, eliminating the need for extra ventilators.
Following the docking of a refrigerated banana ship several block trains of these banana vans would have been dispatched from Southampton to the major fruit markets across Britain. These banana trains were equipped with vacuum train brakes throughout, so ran at express goods speeds, up to 60mph.