979004 LB&SCR Dia.8-Ton Goods Van LBSC No.8091 option-set-071 Figure 1 - Garage worker

Figure 1 - Garage worker raising arms as if opening the bonnet on a car

Low-mounted number boards

In later days most of these wagons reverted to simple plate and trestle wagons

they incorporated full-length sliding covers as well as floors that could be raised and lowered to simplify unloading while optimising use of the restrictive British loading gauge

979004 LB&SCR Dia.8-Ton Goods Van LBSC No.8091 option-set-071 Figure 1 - Garage workerThe London, Brighton & South Coast Railway had a relatively modest number of covered vans within its fleet. It is speculated that this may be due to the number of open wagons that featured a sheet rail, so a substantial number of vans would have been unnecessary. Of course, it could simply have been that the region didnt have the quantity of perishable goods traffic to justify a much larger fleet. Almost 600 covered goods vans were built by the LB&SCR