The Great Western Railway had a vast wagon fleet; the majority were to standardised designs from the drawing office at Swindon. The exceptions, of course, were the numerous examples from the absorbed companies after the Grouping in 1923. I am concentrating on the covered vans, also known as Minks, Mogos and Fruit- and Fish Vans in Great Western speak, for this article.

Peco RTR Mink

In 'N' Gauge we are quite lucky in having the ready to run Mink from Peco (refs NR43W, NR43M, NR43E, NR43B, NRP130 and KNR43). The N Gauge Society has also produced a kit of a Mink 'C', and it is with these kits that other variants of Minks can be made.

I am also using parts from the Peco Cattle van (refs NR45W, NR45S, NR45M and KNR45) to increase the range of vans available. There is also the GWR Fruit 'D' from P.D.Marsh, but that is a very expensive way to change your model fleet so I haven't included any conversions using parts from that kit.

Mink C from the N Gauge Society

By using a permutation of the ends and the sides available from these wagons, it is possible to produce a much larger range of Minks, Fruit Vans, Fish Vans and if you are modelling the right period, a meat van. I hope that you appreciate that the models resulting from this Mix'N'Match exercise aren't 100% accurate, but if we accept the coupling we use then a slight discrepancy should be tolerated.

Peco RTR Cattle Van

By the end of these pages, if you've done each example, you will have several different vans not available anywhere but our own modelling studios. Some of the conversions are quite easy and straightforward but some are more difficult. To do all of the conversions shown in this article require many donor vans, but some may be built using the parts removed and left over to do another conversion.

The following pages include tables showing the details for each diagram of van and will also serve as a ready reckoner for a shopping list for parts. The main features to keep in mind are the end- and door- styles, and the van length.

Ends
There are two ends available to us for possible conversion use and they are: The Peco Mink end with twin bonnets and low type diagonal bracing, and the Peco Cattle van, which has no vents or shutters and has the high type diagonal bracing. The end from the Peco Mink is suitable for the following diagrams: V14, V16, V18, V21, V23, V24, V26, V27, V28, V33, V34, and V36. The end from the Peco Cattle van is suitable for the diagrams S2 (ex V13 Fish van), S6 and S12 (Larger Fish vans).

Doors
The Peco Mink has the later type of vertically planked doors. These were mostly fitted to the vans with 17ft 6in bodies (the Shock absorbing vans are the exception) and some of the larger Minks, Fruit and Fish vans. The N Gauge Society Mink 'C' has the earlier and narrower outside framed doors, suitable for use on the majority of the 16ft bodied vans and also some Fruit and Fish vans.

Chassis
To start with I used the standard Peco 10ft wheel-base chassis, but as my experience grew I also used the Peco 9ft wheel-base chassis where it was appropriate. There isn't actually that much of a difference in N, and certainly I haven't come across anyone who has said that X wagon should have a 9ft chassis when I have put a 10ft one under it. [The Peco 9ft and 10 ft wheelbase chassis are available as kits, or ready-made under the RTR wagons. Both can be fairly easily shortened or lenghtened, Ed]. For the larger mink conversions I used the Parkside Dundas 12ft wheelbase chassis that comes with the N Gauge Society's Mink 'C' kit.

Shortening the Peco RTR Mink
The Peco RTR Mink portrays the later 17'6" vans. To build any of the older (16ft body) vans with the outside framed doors, the Peco body will have to be reduced in length by 3mm in our scale. This can be done when the doors, which come with the Peco van, are carefully removed and replaced with a pair of doors from the Society's Mink 'C' kit [which are narrower, Ed].

This operation sounds quite simple but is a bit more detailed than first thought. The Peco van must be cut into a kit of parts similar to the way that the Society's Mink 'C' is laid out, and should consist of two end panels and two side panels. I found that the easiest way was to completely remove the inside floor of the Peco van and cut through the corner posts at 45° with a narrow Razor saw. The only snag is that a junior hacksaw blade is too thick, so if a Razor saw isn't available then several light passes carefully with a scalpel is the only way to separate the van into the required parts.