Rolling Stock For Sale

I would be quite surprised if it realised that much at auction, even allowing for it to be in reasonable condition [but as I well know, appearances can be very deceptive].

 

I have wondered what the market might be for a 'replica' grounded van body.

All new treated material and you could perhaps choose something slightly larger than a standard box van, say a PMV or Fruit D set up with insulation, windows etc and robust enough to be picked up easily

 

I think you'd just get a sub-standard garden building relative to one specifically designed for the role.

Also not sure of the dimensions of a van body - but planning regs limit a garden building to 2.5m maximum height if built within 2 metres of a neighbouring property. Exceed that and you need planning permission; stay below and it is within permitted development rights.

If you look at the main garden building manufacturers, their offerings are basically somewhat modular in size, i.e you can get basically similar designs to varying lengths and widths to fit a site. That would be harder with a faux van body, at least without creating so many distortions that you'd end up at a "what's the point" moment, I think.

Tom

 

No problem Tom, the GWR thought of that! For the provincial suburban garden, a standard Mink A:



A slightly more well off family might go for the Mink C:



You knew your neighbours were doing well if a Mink D appeared in their back garden:



While frankly a Mink G was just showing off!

 

Costed this sort of thing out on more than one occasion - and never been taken up on the challenge.
Building a replica is [usually] cheaper than restoring original material, but still is too expensive for many people, even those with normally deep pockets.

The main market for true replicas would be quite limited in numerical terms, and the existing "garden building" suppliers have most of the equivalent / alternatives available for "normals" to buy. Even then most people who toy with the idea are astounded by the £££ involved.

 

There's also size to consider. This suburban dweller would find even a narrow gauge van body really quite big in his garden, and a bit too dominant for his wife's tastes.

 

For the smaller establishment we decided on a shocvan

 

Now looking slightly more the part

 

GWSR DMU group have just put class 117 DMBS 51372 up for sale on Facebook, more pictures and details on the Facebook post