As the two 5-plank wagons re-enter service in the demonstration freight rake, here is a bit of history about Southern Open S5869 and BR Shock Open Hi-Bar B721890.

By 2019 the wagons were beginning to look very tired, so they were brought in to the shed for minor repairs, a repaint and replacement of the rotten floors, but before we get to that, it’s time to delve back a bit in to the history of freight at NVR.

At this point it is appropriate to pay tribute to the first incarnation of the NVR Wagon Group (henceforth referred to as WG 1.0) without whom we wouldn’t have a Wagon Group now. Norman Pannell, Brian Hallett & Brian Sharpe, assisted by Neil McGregor & David Pond, undertook a lot of invaluable work in the early days of the NVR and without their efforts we simply wouldn’t have the wagons available to us that we do now. Unfortunately, despite their sterling work on the wagons, back then there was little interest in running freight and those guys moved on to other things (and in some cases, other railways). Thank you gentlemen!

The wagons were originally salvaged from the ISTIL site at Queenborough in Kent by WG 1.0 – and as you can see from the images below, both wagons were in a very poor condition. Allegedly they were selected for rarity and interest rather than condition…

In 1996 the two wagons entered service following an initial restoration by WG 1.0. The tarpaulin bar seen on the Shock Open wagon was not it’s original – as you can see from the pictures below where the wagon is missing the bar as salvaged. By chance, during a civils working party on the Fletton Loop clearing the trackbed on the then BR-owned section, a suitable support bar was discovered by Neil in a ditch near London Road Bridge and subsequently recovered on the works train. After mountings were manufactured by Norman, the bar was fitted to the van, although it was to be several years before a sheet was finally fitted over it.

In 2013 a replica BR wagon sheet was manufactured, sign-written by Tim and then added to the shock open to finally make use of the tarpaulin bar, this wagon thus being completed by the current Wagon Group having been started by the original Wagon Group!

Fast forward to 2019 and the latest restoration work by WG 2.0 involves replacement of the floors, running repairs and a complete repaint.

Southern Open S5869

BR Shock Open Hi-Bar B721890

A cable drum put aside some time back was installed as a dummy load in the Southern Open wagon (the BR Shock Open doesn’t need a dummy load as it will have it’s tarpaulin reinstated once work is complete).

Once sign-written, the wagons underwent an FTR and were then returned to the demonstration rake in the bay platform at Peterborough NVR.