Railway vehicle; Metropolitan Railway milk van No. 3, 1896

This railway van was designed to carry milk directly from dairy farms in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire into London. The vans were attached to fast passenger trains and each carried many large churns of milk. They were ventilated to keep the milk fresh in transit and additional suspension was added so that it did not begin to turn into butter. This milk van ran on the Metropolitan Railway from 1896 to 1936. It was overhauled in 2012 to allow it to take part in heritage operations celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Metropolitan Railway in 2013.