Lima "East Anglian Meat" ferry wagon?

[railsquid]

For sentimental reasons I own this wagon:


Lima "East Anglian Meat" ferry wagon by Rail Squid, on Flickr

as it's the N gauge version of one of the HO wagons which came with my first proper trainset in the 1970s. Does anyone happen to know if there was even an East Anglian Meat company and if so did they ever have wagons resembling this in any way? I assume as the wagon itself appears to be a continental ferry wagon, any actual prototype would be a British one, and anyway I half-guess it's something utterly ficticious dreamt up by Lima, but you never know...

[weave]

Hi railsquid,

Sorry but I have no idea regarding your question but I have one as a recent (ish) purchase for my up and coming Sausage Festival at Estepera Nord with UK guest vendors. I only got it because it's a ferry wagon and carries meat but would be happy to know any history about it so hope you don't mind me tagging along for any proper answers.

Cheers, weave 

[railsquid]

I trust you have one of these then?


Lima "Palethorpes" siphon van by Rail Squid, on Flickr

These do appear to have actually existed, not 100% sure if the exact same wagon type but I saw a photo not so long ago of something similar (forgot to bookmark it though).

The problem with trying to research these kinds of things online is that you end up with pages and pages of listings of the model itself.

[javlinfaw7]

Some info on Palethorpes wagons at this address.


https://www.keymodelworld.com/article/sausages-rail-palethorpes-van-oo-gauge

[70000]

I'm sure its a generic "regional" liveried van rather than anything belonging to a company of that name. I've lived in East Anglia all my life (heading for 59 years now...) and can't recall a company of that name.
They did one in OO as well as HO, but as a 12T van, from memory.   Will find my old catalogues later...

[Bealman]

I think they actually existed. In fact, I'm sure I've got an ancient Railway Modeller magazine somewhere with a picture of a Palethorpes vehicle.

[crewearpley40]

LimA 320863 palethorpes siphon G remember that ? A dark brown colour. 303155 303462 are the east anglian wagon catalogue numbers to google

[martyn]

Palethorpe's vans were to two diagrams; LMS dia 1955, GWR dia O47, both types built 1936. Lasted until mid 60s.

They were 6-wheelers, and were similar, but slightly different in details.

Despite being named 'Royal Cambridge' the sausages were made in Dudley; services ran to, eg, Bristol, Cardiff, Bangor (!),  Crewe, Manchester, Stockport, Carlisle, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds. Rail services to the North Country, South Wales and Scotland lasted until mid 60s.

Source, and illustrations;

'Historic carriage drawings' vol.3, Tatlow/Pendragon.

I'm 99% sure the Lima was fictitious, as well as the similar North Sea fish van; they look to be standard Lima continental vans in false liveries. I've certainly never seen photos of real ones, nor do I recall ever seeing any. If the basis of the models was the standard continental van design, it would have been out of gauge for the UK........

Martyn

[70000]

The N Gauge version of the "East Anglian Meats" van had vanished from the Lima catalogue by the 1979/80 edition, whilst the "OO" (obviously HO) one had gone by the 1980/81 edition.
Most of the "dodgy" foreign vehicles in British liveries - certainly for N - had been weeded out of the range by 1980 (eg Schweppes/Coca Cola etc). There were still some in the "OO" range after that though, like a German bogie hopper in "NCB" colours!

[Jerry Howlett]

I am pretty certain the Palethorpes Sausage van would not have been GW or even WR Siphon Gas modelled by Lima, but its a nice livery.

I think Harris of Calne had Siphons amongst their liveried stock but I have never tracked down a picture of one, which is annoying as I have decals for one from Cambridge custom transfers.

[Newportnobby]

I trust you have one of these then?


Lima "Palethorpes" siphon van by Rail Squid, on Flickr

Indeed. two, in fact.

[martyn]

@Jerry Howlett

I haven't got this book, but are there illustrations in 'Great Western Siphons' by J Slinn/HMRS/1986?

There's no photos in the 'Historic carriage drawings' vol. 3, but it does mention that the quoted book 'has further details', though this may be only construction details-I don't know.

Martyn

[Jerry Howlett]

Thanks, Martyn. Did a quick search for that book, but its not available.  Amazon did a paperback copy but thats sold out as well.  I think it will be out of my price range anyway.  Probably a bit much on the off chance of a photo.

Jerry

[icairns]

There is a very interesting and detailed article (9 pages long) about Palethorpes traffic in the October 2014 edition of Steam Days.  This magazine is still available from various sources in the Internet.

Destinations for this traffic included Manchester, Carlisle, Heysham, Newcastle, Euston, Leeds, Perth, and Cardiff.

Based on the information included in the Steam Days article, I developed the following spreadsheet of Palethorpes' rolling stock.
 


Also, in the January 2020 edition of Hornby Magazine, there is a article about constructing one of the 6-wheel vans (OO scale of course).

Ian