London Brighton & South Coast Railway 8-ton Box Van No.1590

The second LBSCR Box Van, as arrived, January 2005. Richard Salmon

This is our second LBSCR Goods van, which, following an intial contact from Mike Cruttenden, chairman of the Brighton Circle, and courtesy of cooperation from Goring Hardware and the owners of the site, arrived on the Bluebell Railway from its previous resting place at Jenkins Yard in Ferring, on 25 January 2005. The first, very similar LBSCR Box Van, had arrived in 1981, and its restoration had finally been completed in 2004.

Because preserved Brighton goods vehicles are very rare, even though this vehicle was in poor condition, it was felt worthy of preservation. Although a lot is missing, and little of the timber work would be savageable, it has a lot of iron fittings present, including door furniture, structural ironwork and lamp irons, which mean that eventual restoration would be feasible. It also provides an interesting comparison with our restored example, which is slightly newer, and has detailed differences. In particular, No.1590 has external "J" iron straps either side of the door, in addition to the massive interior knee.

The van was built in the second half of 1908, to replace an older Stroudley van. It was later numbered 46263, in Southern Railway days. It was withdrawn from service on the SR on 2nd February 1946; it has not yet been established whether it was sold out of service immediately and went straight to Ferring, or whether it saw other use elsewhere first.