After successful use of 100 wooden B-type containers in their network the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) ordered in 1929 as much as 230 steel containers from Metropolitan-Cammell. The order consisted of 175 BL-type, 25 BLS-type (same as BL-type, but internally equipped with shelves for perishable goods) and finally 30 BSS-type. 

The last ones are especially interesting, as they were designed for shipping goods to the continent and were outfitted for stacking in up to three tiers on board the LNER-owned steam ships. That means the BSS-type became the first kind of modern steel seagoing containers and the first one being stackable. All that approximately 30 years before the modern ISO-container was developed in the US!

The same year another 150 containers of similar design (like LNER’s BL-type, but without ventilation openings) was built by Metropolitan-Cammell for the London Midland & Scottish railway (LMS). They were numbered as BX566 to BX715.

For more information, pictures and drawings see modelling source mentioned below.

I have to thanks Carlislecitadel2@Thingiverse! He helped me a lot in getting more and better information about British road-rail containers, so I can continue the “containerization”-theme at a higher level. Many thanks to him!

All models sized for British n-scale (1:148). Conversion values:

Continental N-scale, 1:160 -> 92.5%
TT-gauge, 1:120 -> 123%
HO/H0-gauge, 1:87 -> 170%
OO/00-gauge, 1:76 -> 195%
S-gauge, 1:64 -> 231%
O-gauge, 1:48 -> 308%

The original livery of the LNER containers was aluminium colour with black lettering. Later the colour was changed to oxide red. The PDF-file contains templates for making DIY-decals for the original design in different scales. If you need another scale, let me know. ... Upload of PDF-file doesn't currently work at thingiverse, therefore use the following link to download the PDF-file:

https://www.printables.com/de/model/349082-oit-lnerlms-shipping-container-1-148/files

The final livery of these containers was the new standard LNER-lettering and stripes in golden colour on oxide red. I prepared also decals for this livery, but the colour is not printable with standard printers. If I find a professional decal maker to offer these ones, I will make an update.

The LMS-containers were painted in LMS’s wagon grey with hinges in black and lettering in white – see last picture. 

Sources for modelling:

[1] P.Tatlow "LNER Wagons, Volume 4B", Wild Swan Books Ltd. 2015, ISBN 978 0 953877 11 9

[2] R.J. Essery “An Illustrated History of LMS Wagons Volume Two“, 1983, OXFORD PUBLISHING CO (OPC), ISBN 978 0 860932 55 0

To respect copyright, historical pictures are intentionally scaled down to low resolution. For better quality you should buy the books at https://wildswanbooks.co.uk/ or https://britishrailwaybooks.co.uk/books/opc.php.