10/ 12 ton van 'Mink A' GWR Profile and Models

101836 at Didcot Railway Centre in April 2019. ©Hugh Llewelyn

The GWR built a number of ventilated covered van designs, starting in the 1880s. These early designs featured iron bodies, due to wood shortages, but from the early 20th century they were constructed from wood. Diagram V14 & V16 vans were constructed from 1912 to 1927 at Swindon Works. They were used across the entire GWR network on general goods traffic and lasted right through to BR ownership. 300 Mink A vans were convered into insulated meat vans in 1918 and were recoded as 'Mica A's, This was short lived however as 258 of these were again converted into diagram Y4 banana vans in 1922. Several can be seen in preservation.
Type of Vehicle	Covered goods van
Builder	GWR Swindon Works
Build Dates	1912 to 1927
Total Built	Diag V14: 3,810 Diag V16: 2,959
Wheel Configuration	4-wheel
Operated By	GWR British Railways
Main Duties	General goods traffic
In Service Until	1960s
Surviving Examples	Some in preservation