38-144C BR VDA Van BR Railfreight Red & Grey No.200819 - Weathered wagon with the empty coal space

with the empty coal space modelled below

the V2s were employed plentifully moving goods

a new style of seating and tinted windows

and some vans could also be adorned with marketing posters for the products that may be contained within – in the case of this example ICI Fertilizer branding is applied

allowing them to work over non-electrified routes and into sidings and yards where there isn’t a third rail power source

38-144C BR VDA Van BR Railfreight Red & Grey No.200819 - Weathered wagon with the empty coal spaceThe VDA van was a development of British Rails Cov AB air braked van which was first introduced in the late 1960s, with the VDAs entering traffic from 1975. Sharing the same 20ft 9in wheelbase as the original Cov ABs, the VDAs not only had sliding doors to allow the sides to be fully opened for loading unloading but these doors could also be opened individually as cupboard doors to allow quicker access to just one internal area. The vans entered