SDS HO VHO 1809 Brake Van Varnish Finish

Between 1925 and 1953 the Railways took delivery of 75 mainline large capacity brakevans, all had a high elliptical roofline and full canopy ends. This profile complemented the mainline 72'6" sitting and sleeping carriages of the period. 20 of these vans were coded as VHO, this coding denoted that these vans were fitted with through doors and vestibuled gangways. The remaining 55 vans were coded as MHO and these had non through ends. These larger vans continued with the same basic layout of the earlier EHO brakevan, with a centralised Guards compartment and double sliding door access to luggage space at each end. All of the vans were built with coffin chambers and dogboxes, the VHO had these arranged longitudinally on one end and the MHO had the same fittings arranged transversely across one end. These vans were used across the entire state on all forms of mainline expresses and branchline mixed goods and mail trains. Later, as traffic requirements changed, these brakevans were rebuilt and reconfigured many times, 23 vans were coded KB for Parcels traffic in the early 1970s.