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Home : Shop : Contact Us : Join Club : Globe Newsletter : Collectables : Benjamin Smith |
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CS022 Edition- 1,500
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Fyffes |
| The fruit was first imported in quantity by Edward Fyffe in 1901.
The easily perishable fruit was picked when green and unripe and was transported
by sea in ships with insulated and refrigerated holds. These vessels used to
dock (depending on the customer or shipping line) at a variety of British ports.
Avonmouth (Bristol), Hull, Southampton and Garston (Liverpool) were among them.
A large trade with Britain existed in the 1920s and 1930s. An average shipment
would be 4000 bunches, these being a large stem containing four or five hands.
The bunches of most varieties had to be straw packed in returnable wooden
crates, while the tougher variety from Jamaica could be carried loose. With the
need to quickly transport a large volume of the fruit to the ripeners and
wholesalers throughout the country, the railway was the obvious choice for many
years. However, the fruit required special handling and heating and ventilating
conditions en route. Therefore, from the pre-Grouping days of the early 1920s,
dedicated banana vans were designed by several railway companies (including the
LNWR, GWR and LSWR) in conjunction with the trade to work in complete trains or
rafts (groups of wagons) to carry the fruit by rail from the ports to its
destination. For most of their life, these vans were insulated and fitted with
steam heating pipes on the ceilings and adjustable ventilators to allow the
ripening process to continue en route. The sides were usually marked "Steam
Banana". When the vans were emptied at the ripening shed (there was one at East
Croydon and another, larger one at Lingfield), railway staff had to sweep them
out and burn any loose straw left inside, always keeping a watchful eye out for
any tropical spiders that may have accompanied the bananas! From here they were
straight onto the truck and delivered directly to the shop. Hopefully they would
arrive just ready and soft enough for eating. I always remember my mother
ripening them in the window for a few hours Our Fyffes truck looks just ripe enough! |
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