Bachmann 38-144C BR VDA Van BR Railfreight Red & Grey (Weathered)

Recommended price £37.95    BR 35 ton VDA sliding door box van (No 200819) in weathered BR Railfreight red & grey livery.

The VDA van was a development of British Rail’s 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 traffic in Speedlink services and were used to transport general merchandise, often being marshalled into mixed goods trains as opposed to being operated as uniform rakes and could carry all manner of general merchandise. By the 1980s their traffic was reducing and so many VDAs were rebuilt to suit new traffic, most notably as OTA timber carrying wagons or low sided ballast/spoil wagons where were often coded as ZCA ‘Sea Urchins’.