LLV Louvered Van

Two British-built LLV’s, shunting in Cowra Yd in 1986. Ian Ratcliffe

As part of the 1950’s re-equipment program, the NSW railways ordered steel louvred vans from England to replace its worn out fleet of timber vans. This first batch of vans differed from later batches which were built in Australia. However the vans did have a similar appearance. They had fully louvred sides with two 5’4” x 6’6” doorways with double outward opening hinged doors, pressed metal semi-louvred ends and an arced roof. The vans had timber floors.

Builders:

575 vans were built in 3 batches.

- The 1^st batch of 300 vans were built as components by Birmingham Carriage and Wagon Co in 1951 and assembled by A.E Goodwin. They were given random numbers in the 1173 – 17616 range. These vans had a riveted underframe and 4 long sections in the end pressings.

- The 2^nd batch of 75 vans were built by Tulloch Ltd, Rhodes during 1958-59 and were numbered 29425 – 29499. These vans had welded underframes and 3 long sections in the end pressings.

- The 3^rd batch of 200 vans were built by A.E Goodwin between 1961-65 and were numbered 31361 – 31560.

It has to be noted that during the construction of the 3^rd batch of vans in 1964, the design has changed and they were modified for heavier duties. Over the next 8 years, all the 2^nd and 3^rd batch wagons were strengthened. Because of the riveted underframe, the 1^st batch could not be modified.

Length: 13.72m (45ft) Tare: 22t Capacity: 41t Gross: 63t

Bogies: Originally Andrews 2BR bogie. Later, most were fitted with roller bearing bogies of the 2CF and 2CH types.

Coding:

- As introduced, the 1^st batch vans were coded LLV.

- Most of the 2^nd and 3^rd batch vans were also coded initially LLV, but were recoded GLV upon strengthening.

- After 1979, plain bearing LLV’s became NLLA and roller bearing LLV’s became NLLF.

Colour Scheme:

- As introduced, they were painted gunmetal grey. Codeboards were black with white lettering

- In the mid 70’s, some were painted PTC Blue with white lettering.

- Some vans were also repainted SRA red in the mid 80’s.

Further Modifications:

After their use had passed, many of the underframes were converted to container and departmental wagons, such as the NDGF/XF concrete sleeper wagon.

Operation:

They were used on fruit and other general freight workings.

Similar Wagons: GLV, TLV.

Plan: NSWR Outline Drawing

Modelling:

- AR Kits produce a HO scale kit of the Australian built version of the LLV.

- On Track Models produced a RTR HO scale model in 2008.

LLV 29425 in original condition. SRA Photo

LLV with door open showing interior wall lining. SRA Photo

Interior view of an end in a LLV. SRA Photo

The middle partition in a LLV. SRA Photo