E86828

E86828 is a General Utility Van (GUV) and has never carried passengers. GUVs were built between 1957 & 1960, and were specifically for general parcel carrying use. They are built on short Mk1 57ft underframes and have their handbrake wheels mounted underneath the floor rather than inside the vehicle. They appear "slab sided" compared to most coaches because they were built to a slightly smaller loading gauge to enhance their route availability. They have no gangways, the ends instead having opening doors and a flap that can be dropped (supported on the adapted buffers). This enabled cars to be driven into them, and from vehicle to vehicle, meaning a whole rake of GUVs could be loading with cars by each one driving into the end vehicle and along the train. Parcels and other goods are loaded conventionally from the side using three sets of double opening doors. These were built with footboards but were removed in BR service as the parcel trolleys in use at the time damaged them. Inside is one large space (no partitions) with folding racks lining the insides, these can be either folded down for workspace or smaller items or folded up leaving the space open for larger items.

E86828 was built by Pressed Steel for BR in 1959 (lot no 30565) and weighs 30 tons. The GUV can handle an impressive 14 ton load and was used for parcel and similar traffic on the Eastern Region of BR in the 1960's. Such an insignificant vehicle (there were over 850 GUVs alone) would be almost impossible to trace, but we can speculate that the vehicle would have spent the 60's, 70's & 80's travelling the BR network hauling parcels, goods and anything else that was required of it. It also was repainted from the BR Maroon it was delivered in into corporate BR Blue. Some time in the 1980's it fell out of use but instead of being disposed of was taken into departmental use, where yellow chevrons were added to the end doors. Eventually it was put up for sale.

E86828 was an early acquisition for the group as GUVs are useful for holding heavy items, which is why so many are on heritage lines. Surprisingly for a non passenger vehicle, E86828 was treated quite early on to external restoration. In 1998 it lost its BR blue with chevrons and was repainted into BR Maroon, with a twist. It carries special "Parcels Express" branding that was a non standard Eastern region practice for its circuit workings. It is also the only group vehicle that is on loan. For some time now the van has been used by the commercial department, and it spent many years at Cheddleton on a severed piece of track serving this purpose. It is now 10 years since it was painted and it has been removed from the severed piece of track when it became permanently connected in 2007. The vehicle continues to be used by the commercial department and appears from time to time in loco hauled photo charters.