No. 167 ‘D’ for Downhill and for Fruit ‘D’
The summer weather has disappeared so an incentive to spend time on railway matters. This Post was initiated by the purchase of a Dapol Fruit D van. One of Mr Dapol’s Fruit D vans Over the last twelve months I have been imagining a Welsh themed layout. What better for inspiration but to follow Katerfelto’s pictures on Flickr https://flic.kr/ps/SokUv . I was fascinated by one particular picture which featured an ex GWR Fruit D in the process of being shunted between passenger trains. Machynlleth by Katerfelto https://flic.kr/p/2oAZyMc Apparently a major source of the old GWR's parcels traffic was market garden produce. Small growers would take their fresh produce and load it into a van at the local station. The vans would then be moved speedily to market at the larger towns and cities. To cater for the fresh produce the GWR provided vans with additional ventilation slats in their sides to allow cool air to circulate. The vans could be attached to passenger trains. The