#1844
Cavell Van
🇬🇧 United Kingdom ·built by South Eastern and Chatham Railway· from 1919· historic railway rolling stock
2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Cavell van restored: Michael Roots· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2. Cavell Van Norwich Forum: Northmetpit· CC BY-SA 4.0
what is it?
The Cavell Van is the prototype Parcels and Miscellaneous Van (US: boxcar) built by the South Eastern and Chatham Railway in 1919. It is so named because it was the van which carried the body of Edith Cavell when it was repatriated to the United Kingdom following the end of the First World War. The van also carried the bodies of Charles Fryatt and The Unknown Warrior.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 107 years ago, in 1919.
- 9.8 m long: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.
carriage / wagon: Unpowered passenger coaches or freight wagons, pulled by a locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 1919
- in service from
- 1919
- number built
- 1
- kind
- carriage / wagon
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- builders
- South Eastern and Chatham Railway, Ashford Works
- operators
- Southern Railway, British Rail, South Eastern and Chatham Railway, Southern Region of British Railways
- top speed
- —
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- length
- 9.8 m
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q5054990, Wikipedia: Cavell Van (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.