As part of the coach building programme embarked on by the GSR in the mid-thirties,
bogie brake van 2548 was built for the new mail train. There were to be a number of the new design,
but in fact only one was built and it was numbered in the same series as the earlier bogie vans.
It was similar in general layout but was built on a 60ft underframe as for the new coaches in
place of the earlier 57ft underframe and the sides were flush steel panelled matching the new
coaches. The window arrangement was almost identical to the earlier vans with four
fixed windows on each side and small end windows, all with protective bars inside.
Following overhaul during the CIE period the window frames were replaced with
standard sliding lights which were not chromium plated as in the original
GSR design for the passenger coaches and presumably the protective bars
were dispensed with. The sliding doors were flush when closed as in the
case of the earlier vans.
Van No. 2548 was still in use at the end of 1978.
CIE introduced a further series in 1960 of very similar vans but with
Commonwealth bogies and a different truss arrangement, numbered 2549 to 2558.
The Great Southern maroon livery with yellow lining and crests matched the
coaches of the same period with the crests apparently located under each of
the two centre windows. Original window layout Later CIE layout
