Isle of Man ‘G’ Van – with portholes

This model is now discontinued.

For the opening of the Peel Line in 1873, the Isle of Man Railway included in its initial stock purchase from the Metropolitan Carriage & Wagon Co, four hand-braked covered goods vans with load 6 tons and central double-doors to each side. The covered vans were allocated the stock letter “G” when a revised identity system was introduced by the Railway after 1876.  Two additional vans (G.5 & G.6) were supplied new by the Ashbury Carriage & Wagon Co in 1877, a single van (G.7) was believed built by the Railway itself in 1897 using spares and parts supplied by Metropolitan, followed by two further examples (G.8 & G.9) supplied new by Metropolitan in 1899, all to the same basic early-type design. Van G.1 is extant and currently stored out-of-use on the Railway. The remaining early-type “G” vans were in use until the 1960’s, but scrapped by 1975.

The Isle of Man Railway inherited four covered ventilated vans of a different design from the Manx Northern Railway in 1904 and built a further five longer-body examples itself between 1915 and 1921 using  redundant chassis from original 4-wheel carriage stock.  The portholes on the side panels of a number of “G” vans were modifications by the Railway to improve ventilation for carrying perishable goods, live poultry and even horses!  Numbers G4, G6, G7, G9 available.  Additionally this G van with portholes is being made in plain grey ‘data only’ for anyone who wants it for non Isle of Man purposes.  Body length is 217.5mm, overall maximum width over the handles 107mm, height 134.5mm

Note: These vans are supplied with metal shutters and catches loose.  These can be fitted in the open position, with the catch above the porthole, or in the closed position, with the catch fitted below the porthole.  Twin epoxy or similar glue is recommended – avoid solvent glues which might damage the paintwork.  Check the product images to see how they should be. The vans are supplied with our standard chopper couplings, set at 25mm above rail level to meet 16mm scale standards but the models are fitted with a higher set of bolt holes to allow the couplings to match the Isle of Man locomotives. The vans are also supplied with a set of 32mm gauge wheels for those who wish to convert the vehicles to O Gauge.

Liveries available:

• R20-2A – Isle of Man ‘G’ Van with portholes in light grey, numbers G5 & G7 (early lettering)
• R20-2B – Isle of Man ‘G’ Van with portholes in light grey, numbers G6 & G9 (late lettering)
• R20-2C – Isle of Man ‘G’ Van with portholes in light grey, data only