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Ready to Run Wagons |
Tower Models LimitedEdition London Salt Vans
Whilsts researching the Tower Models Limited edition ICI salt van series when happened across an interesting image in the HMRS archive of a London Salt merchants, duly noted it as an interesting one and moved on. Subsequently then found another image in the HMRS archive which was much more interesting which showed six together as a rake so dug deeper. Alfred Cant & Sons of 30 Edwin Street, Canning Town is in the East End of London and the earliest mention I could find of the company was 1914 but the pair of photographs was dated 1930 and must of been a substancial operation with the obvious number of Salt Vans it had. The images were also vague about the colour of the vans as it mentions either blue or bauxite but if you look at the original black and white photograph there is no way it was bauxite as the difference in shade between the black iron work and body colour is too close. Salt vans are known to of been bright colours with the likes of Saxa Salt but to date Dapol had not done a blue example which was another reason to look closely at it. The HMRS archive is an invaluable resourse resourse and purchasing a blown up copy of the photograph from them was able to read the smaller script, which was even more interesting because as a Salt Merchant they bought their salt from Stafford Salt Company and the repairs to be carried out at Stoke on Trent. With the interesting colour, links to the ICI Stafford Salt works on a London based salt van and the fact that we had six accurate running numbers meant it was a prime candidate for a Tower Limited Edition set. For the colour layout images shown here of all six number options we have shown the roofs grey to contrast with the white background but on the finished models they will be white. The white wall to the tyres on the wheel has also be left off as these were probably only done for photographic purposes and with any sort of mileage they would of gone black. Work began on these only at the begining of June this year and have been produced here in the UK and are now available from stock. We are only charging the same as the standard Dapol Salt Vans for these even though there are origination artwork costs involved and they are being sold individually or as a full set of all six with a slightly better price. Subject to these selling well we may go on to do further London based private owner wagons such as the recently announced Home Counties set of coal wagons. As always if required we will also be offering our custom weathering service at £25.00 per vehicle with the customer choice of the degree of weathering. |
 The specifications for the Salt Van are:
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London Salt Vans |
| Ref. | Description |
R.R.P. |
Our Price |
A Cant 1 |
A Cant & Sons Salt Merchants # 22 **SOLD OUT** | £55.30 |
£47.00 |
A Cant 2 |
A Cant & Sons Salt Merchants # 25**SOLD OUT** | £55.30 |
£47.00 |
A Cant 3 |
A Cant & Sons Salt Merchants # 28 **LAST ONE** | £55.30 |
£47.00 |
A Cant 4 |
A Cant & Sons Salt Merchants # 30 ***SOLD OUT** | £55.30 |
£47.00 |
A Cant 5 |
A Cant & Sons Salt Merchants # 33**SOLD OUT** | £55.30 |
£47.00 |
A Cant 6 |
A Cant & Sons Salt Merchants # 34 **LAST ONE** | £55.30 |
£47.00 |
A Cant Set |
Set of all six A Cant & Sons Salt Vans **SOLD OUT** | £331.80 |
£275.00 |
As well as offering the standard weathering service we also decided to have a play with a few example of the London Salt vans as shown above with a few replacement planks as part of the weathering and the wood finish really nicely contrasts against the blue and makes each one very much unique. This can also be done as part of the standard weathering service if required.