Van 1
From Festipedia, hosted by the FR Heritage Group
| Van 1 | |
 | |
|---|---|
| Martin Ellis | |
| Built By | FR Co. |
| Designation | Guard / Luggage Van |
| History | |
| Date Built | 2004 |
| Operating | Heritage Fleet |
| Carriages | |
[edit]Background
This vehicle was built in 2004 and is a replica 1873 Brown Marshall & Co. bogie van, familiarly known as the curly roofed van.
Details of the previous Van 1 of the preservation era can be found here.
The Festiniog Railway bought the bodies for three bogie luggage vans from Brown, Marshall & Co. - two in 1873 and the third in 1876, and added the bogies and brakegear at Boston Lodge works following delivery. They each contained a guard's compartment, a large luggage compartment accessed externally by sliding doors and internally from the guard's compartment and a small compartment for dogs.
*Date c1880 *Photo: R H Bleasdale
Unfortunately none of these vehicles survives in original form.
- The original Van 1 was broken up in 1921
*Date: Unknown *Photo: Unknown
On account of their peculiarly shaped roofs these vans became known to the preservationists as the Curly Roofed Vans , but this term was not used by the old FR Co.
In the 1990's the decision was made to re-create a Victorian Train. Most of the carriages required to re-create this train had survived in to preservation. However, all the Victorian photographs showed a curly roof van at the rear. The only option was to build a new curly roof van, which was completed at Boston Lodge in 2004 and took on the identity of Van 1. It is principally used in The 1870's Train.
*Date: Unknown *Photo: Martin Ellis