As well as many former LMS fifty feet vans stored

in sidings at Whittlesea there was also a number of ex-Southern vans awaiting their fate with the cutter. These four-wheel wooden-bodied vans would have been easier for the scrap man to deal with by them probably being torched with the steel frame left behind to simply be cut up. S1539 was a middle member of the large final batch of these once very common wagons that were constructed, largely at Wolverton Works, as late as the 1950s but I would welcome more information on these details if anybody has access to it. As well as having 'letter mail' being chalked on the centre window of the van, it also has two of its previous destinations identified with 'Exeter' and 'Birmingham Curzon' both clear to see.