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Tool & Staff Vans / Departmental Coaches
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Courtesy of one of Jonny Duffet’s excellent 3D prints for Morfa Bank Sidings.
Built by the GWR to an enlarged iron mink-style design there were only
a handful of these diagram CC1 S&T workshop vans built. DW14999 was
actually allocated to nearby Neath but had gone by 1972, however,
DW15000, on paper working out of Reading, was a regular in South Wales
during the early 1970s (and wasn’t finally scrapped until February
1974 at Barry Wagon Yard). Here we see it parked out of the way on the line to the CCE tip.
Here we see the Neath tool van sat in the yard about to head off to a weekend engineering work
site. Thanks to John Lewis for the correct number for a Neath-based van, perfect for Morfa Bank.
Transfers, as usual, were a mix from various sources to suit. It also sports those hideous
orange curtains that Swindon seemed to fit to all the various mess van and coach conversions
at that time. They certainly date the van nicely to that period! Further details and the
construction processon of this van can be found on the September 2020 update page (omwb171).
Parkside kit, this one for a GWR Bloater fish van. It was destined to be the Neath CCE tool
van, which was a later diagram of Bloater so needed most of the vents filled in.
Here we see it parked up with the local staff van awaiting some late night engineering
work. This particular vehicle avoided the fate of most of the local engineering stock and
was preserved after 1976 at Didcot, where it can still be seen today.
Morfa Bank Sidings is set in the period after Margam depot had lost its crane, so only
two vans remained for dealing with small-scale derailments, both the staff van and the
tool van being former Mk1 BSKs. This was in the years before the rather
attractive RTC-style livery was in use, and photos of that era are few
and far between. The vans were only converted at the start of 1971,
Cathays modifying a batch of vans for Newport Ebbw Junction; Cardiff
Canton; Margam and Swansea Landore, and they were repainted from
blue/grey at the end of the summer of 1974.
And this is the pair looking the other way with the staff van in the
foreground. This van eventually moved to Laira in the 1980s while the
tool van didn’t move so far and ended up migrating to Swansea but was
soon out of use, and, of course, the blue/grey livery was long gone by
then.
To complement the Shenston Road PW crane, this Hornby model of a Hawksworth Brake 3rd has been
detailed to represent QPV number DW150401 (ex-GWR2233) in use as a CCE department staff van.
Originally built to diagram D133 in 1950 (lot no 1732 11) this vehicle was observed in many locations
around the Western Region in use as a staff van.
A view of the ex-LMS CK staff van (DM395476), a modified Mainline model by Paul James.
Also modified and built by Paul is this tool van made from a MAJ kit (DM395924).
Whilst on the subject of breakdown cranes and tool vans, here's a heavily modified Lima BSK built
many years ago by Greg Brookes into a re-railing tool van, captured at Wibdenshaw.
Just for the album, here's another pair of support vehicles at the Eastwell Ironstone Company's
exchange sidings, both converted and finished by Greg.
This GWR breakdown tool van is a 3D printed model, as are the following tool / staff vans.
The step ends of the breakdown tool vans - they usually ran together either with or without
a crane. The prominent angle irons on the step ends were for flare lamps to help illuminate
work sites. There's a little more to do with finishing
An ex-GWR CC3 6-wheeled tool van. Built from 1903 onwards, some lasted through to the 1970s.
Most were in S&T use. There was a 4-wheel variant with a different undertrussed chassis and
sliding door, which has also been drawn.
