To meet the rapid rise in demand for bananas shipped in from the Caribbean, specially constructed steam heated banana vans were manufactured with plywood cladding and insulated bodies that allowed bananas to be shipped in green and ripened en route.
There is a later variant, built typically in the 1950’s, that was steam piped allowing the easier running of interconnected block trains. This type of banana van was often characterised by a large yellow spot on each side and had a 12t capacity.