Image from Darren Hodges Collection
This code was "unearthed" by the writer during 1992. The wagons were from a small group of _M__ cattle vans, fifty vans in total.
Workshops records for the 1930's shows the wagons coded as MU when converted to autocouplers. Later records show the wagons back to M coding by 1934.
The writer originally thought the vans were in temporary service as box or louvre vans, consistent with a suffix 'U' applied to another vehicle.
The wagons were fitted with temporary wooden louvre sections to cover the side wall gaps. The works appears to have been done at Newport Workshops.
The reason for the work seems to be tied to the auto-coupler project then underway in the 1930's. The writer has presumed that the vans were a temporary replacement for the _U__ vans being removed from service for conversion to autocouplers.
The MU numbers were:
323, 325 - 329, 331, 333, 334, 338, 345, 346 350, 352, 353, 356, 359 - 363, 366, 369, 371 374 - 379, 381 - 383, 386, 387, 389, 390, 395 - 398, 400, 401, 403, 406, 410, 411, 415 417, 418
File c243m compiled by Peter J. Vincent, updated 27/3/2007