U wood body louvre van
The U van group started with these wooden body vans, there were two distinct types, the early type had a single door (per side), the later wooden body U vans featured a double door (per side). Sadly no photos are known to exist of the single door type in regular service although a few survived long enough to be converted to HDs as shown below.
Single Door (per side) Wooden Louvre Vans
First Pattern – to Drawing 2971
Eleven vans (U1 to U 11)built at Newport Workshops 1888-89
Double louvre construction with fly wire between inner and outer louvres
Internal bars with hooks for hanging beef and mutton carcases
Doors hung on the right-hand side
Composite underframe - steel side sills, wooden centre sill, transoms and headstocks
Combined 8 inch brake cylinder/auxiliary reservoir
Three-link couplings, standard 1’-81/4” buffers and continuous draw gear
Second Pattern – to Drawing 2979
U 12 built at Newport Workshops 1892
U 13 to U 87 built by P. Ellis 1893
U 88 to U 112 built at Newport Workshops 1894
Generally, as per First Pattern except:
Doors hung on the left-hand side
Screw couplings
HD 55 ex U 111, HD 77 ex U 55
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Built
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| U 113 to U 127 | built Newport Workshops 1895 - 1896 |
| U 128 to U 202 | built Braybrook Implement Co. 1896-1897 |
| U 203 to U 277 | built Robinson and Co. 1896-1897 |
| U 279 to U 280 | built Newport Workshops 1897 |
ABOVE: HD 53 at Ararat, 1979. This is a good example of the single door type in reasonable condition. The register claims that it was converted from U 121 which was a double door type. Two possibilites exist, either the register is wrong or the body was swapped onto 121's underframe.
ABOVE & BELOW: HD 143 was built at Newport workshops as U 6 in 1889, it was autocoupled in 1932 and converted to HD 143 in 1957. photo at Rainbow, Feb. 1977, courtesy Rob O'Regan
This is the content for Layout P Tag
ABOVE: U 148 built 1897, it was autocoupled in 1932. (It appears to be lacking autocouplers in this photo) It was converted to HD 109 in 1958 and scrapped in 1979
ABOVE: U 198 as built in 1897. (Note the "Reserved for meat Traffic" board) It was autocoupled in 1932 and scrapped in 1955.
