Whilst Llangollen Railway was hosted the Thomas the Tank Engine specials, a number of 6880 members were busy working away in the C&W sheds. The aim of this working weekend was to prepare our recently purchased box van for outside storage, as at present it is not in the best of condition. The Van was moved down from the loco shed to Pentrefelin Shed by Quentin and Graham Hoyland during the previous week.

On Saturday Mick, Jeff and Q started by removing all the remains of the old roof canvas. There were numerous old nails to be removed before the roof boards were ready to be sanded down. Two boards had sprung and required coach bolts to pull them back down. Once the roof had been sanded, a sealant was applied.

The two sliding doors required repairs. A new set of T&G boards were cut and fitted to replace a poor set on one door. The frame on the other door required two new main timbers. The same gang, now assisted by Richy P and myself fresh from Thomas duties, and Hank, did this on Sunday. Due to the joints this proved a lengthy job but was completed by the end of Sunday. Further vertical planks were replaced and a start on sanding the remaining planks down prior to painting was made.

Next working weekend we plan to fit a new roof canvas and make a start on painting the exterior and fitting of shelves inside.

Below is a brief history of this van, courtesy of Steve Best from Preserved Railway Stocklist.

Box Van 30454 was purpose built for the MOD by Chas Roberts in 1940, and is loosely based on a LNER diagram 094 box van. 30454 is its ROF Glascoed ID number, & wouldn’t have had a ‘M’ pref. They were also 10t not 13t as in your photo. It was registered by the GWR in the 85xxx range as all privately owned wagons, MOD included, were registered by one of the main operators in pre nat days and later by BR. The registration would have been plated on the frame. These were not the running number the owners applied. In 1994 the Van was purchased by a Mr Mimms and it moved to the Dean Forest Railway, where it was used as a stores van. The 6880 Society recently bought the wagon from Mr Mimms and intend to use it for storing all the parts for 6880 that they have acquired over the last few years.

Jon