Budgie Miniatures
No.25 Bedford Cattle Truck
The last of the Bedford TK models in the Budgie Miniatures range was No.25 Cattle Truck which was issued in late 1963.
As with previous Bedfords, the cab and chassis were one casting and the body a separate one rivetted onto the chassis behind the cab. There were two versions of the body section, the first with no number and the second with '25' cast inside behind the cab.
The first body casting was not a success because it placed the peg underneath too far back which, when rivetted onto the base, resulted in a very tight fit to the rear of the cab on the type 1 chassis. This was despite using the type 2 Bedford cab base with a longer rear extension.
Budgie soon re-cast the body (adding the inside number) and switched to the type 2 Bedford chassis with a strengthened cross-brace. This enabled the body to be positioned further back and rivetted directly onto the chassis and base together.
On the base, 'A Budgie Model' and 'Made in England' were cast which on early versions was asymetric or 'off-centre' but later revised and centralised.
There were four cab colours used for No.25 Cattle Truck. The first issue was white or pale cream, the second yellow, then a small issue with red cabs, and finally orange.
The cattle transporter body was always brown but the full-height opening door at the rear could be brown or pale tan or beige, and these appear to have been interchangeable on all cab colours. The rear door was hinged at the base with a clip-fit system.
The final orange variation was fitted with a scarce type 3 base, a new casting with an open centre and revised lettering which was secured using a clip-fit method via newly added holes in the chassis behind the cab (type 3 chassis). With this base, the rivet for the body was only fixed to the chassis. There was also a small change to the underside of the body with the addition of an alignment bar to assist in assembly.
No.25 Cattle Truck was sold in a variety of boxes and packs and is still quite easy to find in the white version although the first issue with the type 1 chassis is scarce. The yellow and red variations are less common and the final orange one quite rare.
Variation 1 : White cab, type 1 chassis, beige rear door
MODERN Vehicle Series (type 2) box
No.25 Bedford Cattle Truck
Model Variations
All models have a brown body with a brown, pale tan or beige rear door
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(1) WHITE cab type 1 chassis long base bpw
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(2) WHITE cab type 2 chassis long base bpw
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(3) YELLOW cab type 2 chassis long base bpw
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(4) RED cab type 2 chassis long base bpw
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(5) ORANGE cab type 3 chassis clip-fit base bpw
Variation 2 : White cab, type 2 chassis, brown rear door
Variation 3 : Yellow cab
Variation 4 : Red cab, brown rear door
Variation 5 : Orange cab, pale tan rear door
No.25 Cattle Truck : Rear door colours - brown, pale tan, beige
No.25 Cattle Truck without & with inner numbers
No.25 Cattle Truck : cab base & chassis variations
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Left : type 1 chassis type 2 base off-centre lettering
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Centre : type 2 chassis type 2 base revised lettering
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Right : type 3 chassis type 3 clip-fit base
No.25 Cattle Truck
Boxes and Packs
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1963-64 Yellow Budgie Toys blister-packs (Guiterman)
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1963-66 MODERN Vehicle Series (type 2) boxes
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1964-66 Blue Budgie Blister-packs (Guiterman)
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1963-64 Budgie 'Collectors Models' boxed Set (USA)
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1965-66 Budgie No.97a Truck Set (triple blister-pack)
No.25 Cattle Truck - yellow and blue blister-packs
Budgie Miniatures triple-pack No.97a Truck Set
Budgie 'Collectors Models' Set
(Distributed in the USA by Flare Industries, NY)
The real Bedford TK Cattle Truck