This vehicle has always appealed to me. Some years ago, there was a short-lived resin bodied kit which I never managed to obtain. Another manufacturer has promised a kit for 5 or 6 years but still hasn't produced it. There was nothing else for it but to scratch-build (another manufacturer has now produced a kit!).

The body is plasticard, as are the solebars, buffer beams and springs. I used Slaters etched 'W' irons and axle boxes. Parts of the brakes are Coopercraft. The buffers have Haywood whitemetal bodies with Peco steel heads. The lower steps are built around a brass strip which has the brass wire droppers soldered to it. The handrail 'knobs' are copper wire.

Van number 12009 was built in 1882 and originally alocated to Newport. Sometime during WW1 it would have received self-contained buffers and instanter couplings and may have been modified to clasp brakes and received sanding gear. It was scrapped in 1922, at which time it was alocated to Acton. The alocation name on these vans was in script rather than capitals because of the limited space. The livery is conjectural because I could not find a photo later than 1902. I already had an Acton van, so I moved it to Worcester because I had transfers for that and it is in my preferred area.

Assuming that the period modelled is 1904 - 1922, the handrails should probably be painted white, but there is no real evidence of this and I think it looks better without.