Brief History Of The Class.
B vans were built between 1958 and 1961 to provide additional carrying capacity when many of the older open wagons and louvre vans were scrapped in the late 1950's. The B vans were constructed at Bendigo North Workshops with new steel bodies on the old underframes of scrapped wagons.
The original plan was for 500 vans. This was later reduced to 400, but construction stopped after 350 were built.
By the early 1980's, most B vans were being scrapped with some in use as service vans for the Way and Works Branch.
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References:
Vincent, Peter, "B - Fixed Wheel Steel Boxvan", Victorian Railways Rolling Stock 1886 - 1996, CD-ROM, 1998
