The VDA van was a logical choice to be one of the first add-on releases as a part of Project East Coast for RailWorks as specially insulated versions had a daily duty carrying chocolate and confectionery between factories owned by the Rowntrees company in York and Newcastle.

The VDA was the penultimate design of covered van for freight use designed by British Rail, and in many respects was the last of variant of the traditional goods van. Built from 1975 - 1978 the VDA was the fourth and final design in a series of vans that had began with the COV AB (later to become VAB) constructed in 1966. The wagon has a tare of 16.25t and can carry up to 24.5t, carried on a 20' 9" wheelbase. There are three openings per side with hinged doors at the outer ends and a pair of sliding doors in the centre with the sliding doors not being able to open while the hinged doors are in use and vice-versa. The wagon was designed to be loaded by forklift and has a strengthened floor to ease loading.

Notable for use on the East Coast mainline were a considerable number of vans fitted with extra insulation to carry confectionery products for Rowntrees between their factories in Newcastle and York. The modified vans were easily recognisable as they had received white painted roofs, with at least one example being painted completely white.

The stock pack will contain the main variants of the vans as show above wearing both bauxite and Railfreight Red and Grey livery along with white roofed and the all over white example. Naturally there will be a scenario so you can play with them straight out of the box!