Rapido Trains UK GWR ‘Iron Mink’ van

◆ GAUGE ‘OO’ ◆ MODEL Rapido Trains UK GWR Dia. V6 ‘Iron Mink’ 908010 Salvage for Victory 908014 GWR grey (sand van) Cambrian GPV red No. 139 ◆ PRICE £32.95 each ◆ AVAILABILITY Rapido Trains UK stockists Web: www.rapidotrains.co.uk 908016 Ferrocrete yellow

The Great Western Railway began building metal-bodied merchandise vans in the late 1880s. The telegraphic code for a merchandise van was ‘Mink’ and those built from 1888 to diagram V6 became known as ‘Iron Minks’. A similar van was later built for carrying explosives, the most visible difference being that the ‘Iron Mink’ had rounded body corners, while those of the ‘Gunpowder’ van were square. The similarity has meant that for more than 60 years, various manufacturers have produced the former Hornby-dublo gunpowder van in liveries that were actually carried by ‘Iron Minks’.

It was no surprise, given those similarities and the modern penchant among manufacturers for getting things right, that Rapido Trains UK would follow the excellent gunpowder van with an equally good ‘Iron Mink’, depicting the GWR’S diagram V6 variant. Indeed, despite the longstanding popularity of the ‘Iron Mink’ among GWR modellers, this is the first ‘OO’ ready-to-run model.

The GWR built over 4,000 ‘Iron Minks’ by 1901 but, despite this, some customers were frustrated by poor availability of wagons and bought their own from outside manufacturers. These included 300 built for Spiller and Baker (a South Wales flour mill) in 1905 and brought into GWR stock (as Dia. V15) in 1913. The GWR reverted to building timber-bodied vans at the turn of the century. Among the distinctive liveries carried by ‘Iron Minks’ were the bright yellow of the British Portland Cement Company Ltd and a Second World War scheme applied to a couple of wagons by the GWR to promote salvage (of paper) for the war effort.

I am delighted to say that both these liveries have been reproduced by Rapido.

However, it’s worth mentioning that the Ferrocrete livery was actually carried on a slightly different type of ‘Iron Mink’, rather than the Dia. V6 vans modelled by Rapido. This fact is freely acknowledged by the manufacturer, who clearly found the attractive livery too hard to resist!

I have received the three vans which I ordered, the third

example being a plain grey body lettered as a sand van for Reading West. Feeling in a ‘colourful’ mood, I ordered a fourth model, in bright red Cambrian Railways gunpowder van livery, though I’m not sure what the story behind this particular prototype was.

It has always been a source of fascination to me that the apparently heavy ‘Mink’ body was carried on a chassis which looks quite delicate. The Rapido model captures this well, there being no vacuum brake gear or other ‘gubbins’ to model. Rapido has taken the opportunity to model the underside of the planked floor and even an impression of the drawbar and its centre spring.

The ‘Iron Minks’ originally had brakes on one side only, but a third brake shoe was added on the opposite side and some vans received a pair of shoes on this side, too. Two of the samples have the three brake shoes arrangement but the Ferrocrete van has four, with brake levers on both sides. The levers and the brake gear are separate fittings and are remarkably fine. This fine chassis detail leaves a lot of underside ‘daylight’ which means the pivoted

NEM pockets with the usual tension‑lock couplers, are particularly prominent. At least those who wish to fit scale couplings will be able to do so quite easily, as the NEM pockets can be unscrewed. Insulated, spoked metal wheels on cone‑ended metal axles are fitted and run in brass bearings to give a very free‑running model.

The body moulding captures the shape and character very well and, of my samples,

the sand van has doors representing planked timber rather than metal. The roof, sides and ends carry some very fine rivet detail and the very slender GWR wagon buffers have metal heads. I did wonder if their lightness (they weigh just 30g) might be a problem with a heavy train behind them but I ran all three at the head of eight assorted heavier wagons and took them through medium radius Peco points at silly speeds with no problems.

The paint and print finish on all the models is to a high standard. The matt yellow of the Ferrocrete van is carried down over the solebars and headstocks. The lettering printed in dark blue and is

fully legible, including the owners’ address. The ‘salvage’ vehicle is described in my reference book as having ‘yellow’ GWR roundels. Those on the model are gold‑coloured. Altogether another first class job from Rapido. I won’t be surprised to see another production run of these in different liveries and numbers very soon as demand is sure to be high. (CJL)

Rapido has taken the opportunity to model the underside of the planked floor and even an impression of the drawbar and its centre spring