Bachmann Shock Vans
Bachmann's first model of 1994 was based on the standard British Railways 'Shocvan' which combined features of the ventilated vans of all four pre-nationalisation companies. They had planked sides and corrugated steel end walls which were fitted with a single vent. They were built between March 1953 and April 1954, mostly at Darlington but some also as Ashford. In all 1,900 were made.
Early on, the shock absorbing vans had three tall thin white stripes painted on all four sides but, from 1964, these were three short fat stripes looking almost like squares. 37-903 is one of these BR shock vans with corrugated ends. It is in BR brown livery and numbered B852353.
The following year (1995), Bachmann introduced the GWR version. Shock vans and open wagons were designed to absorb violent movement during shunting and thus protect their contents. This also helped to protect other wagons in the train as well. The GWR was the only one of the Big Four railway companies to build shock absorbing vans, the prototype having been built in 1939 and a batch of them constructed in 1940. 37-902 shock van has planked ends and so is of the GWR design. It is in BR brown and numbered W139556.