This vehicle was used on passenger trains for such traffic as milk, meat, fish and small (caged) livestock, where its ventilation was important. Of course it could also be used for general luggage or parcels if required. On withdrawal from revenue service in 1941, it was converted to a mobile battery charging van, carrying a generator to charge carriage batteries and was allocated to Exeter Central.
Condemned at Newton Abbott in 1969, it was preserved by the Southern Locomotive Preservation Co. Ltd. Initially being moved to Liss, on the Longmoor Military Railway, it was moved the following year to the Bluebell Railway.
An identical vehicle is finely restored to its original "salmon and brown" livery at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, where it is stored under cover.
This vehicle is seen painted in BR carriage stock green, as it would have been when in BR departmental service. The van received an experimental form of roof covering in about 1993, which is hoped will be a more enduring alternative to the original painted canvas. It awaits a full overhaul.
Type: Passenger Luggage Van
Built: 1920 at Eastleigh
Original No: 5498
Other Nos: SR: 1584
Length: 24'
Weight: 11 Tons
To Service Stock: September 1941
Service Nos: SR: 1686S, BR: DS1686
Withdrawn: 26 June 1969
Preserved: April 1970
To Bluebell Railway: 03 October 1971
Right: The van painted as DS1686 standing in the old goods dock at Horsted Keynes. This area is now covered by the 1990s Carriage Works Extension
(Richard Salmon).