LNER removals container unearthed – in Antwerp!
Pre-Nationalisation Conflat rail-road box discovered buried in earth bank.
MYSTERY surrounds how a preNationalisation LNER Conflat container ended up buried beneath a recreation ground in Antwerp, leaving archaeologists, historians and members of the public intrigued.
Archaeologists working on the Oosterweel Link road project uncovered a structure in the Noordkasteelwal (North Castle wall) and found some old ammunition – before discovering a metal structure dug into the embankment. This turned out to be a Conflat type – with the surviving signwriting including “…NITURE REMOVAL TO HOUSE”, “Enquire at any station”, “BK 1820” and “LNER”.
The BK container was designed to carry furniture – it could be transported by rail and by road, a precursor to the modern shipping containers.
It remains a mystery how a container from a British railway company ended up in Belgium and why it was buried. It may have been used as a storage space when the North Castle became a recreational spot.
The fragile state of the container posed significant challenges during recovery. Attempts to extract it from the soil resulted in it falling apart.
The discovery was made public with a press release issued by the road construction project on March 8. The news was picked up by modernday East Coast Mainline train operating company, LNER, which in turn issued a press release two weeks later and the story captured the interest of the UK mainstream media.
Research by The RM has found that container No. BK 1820 has been offered in model form by two manufacturers – with Peco producing it in N gauge and Hornby in OO. Both models were available in blue – yet the prototype lay buried across the English Channel in a shade of red.
Nick Pigott, consultant editor of The RM, said: “Until 1932, there was no standard livery for LNER goods road vehicles and containers as the constituent companies continued to use their own liveries, including pale red. In 1932, a deep shade of blue was adopted as standard across the company, referred to by some sources as Oxford blue and by others as Royal ultramarine blue.”
Nick’s information would therefore point to the container having been in Belgium since before 1932 but after the Grouping.