Living van

A living van is a portable caravan for temporary use of traveling work crews, especially of early steam engines.

[1] Living vans developed from the earlier shepherd's wagons, used to provide portable accommodation following a flock as they were moved between pastures.

[6] The first locomotive threshing teams were local and did not require living vans, the driver walking or cycling from home up to ten miles (16 km).

[7] In his last TV series, Fred Dibnah's Made in Britain, Fred Dibnah travelled around industrial Britain with his traction engine drawing its living van — although, owing to his advanced illness, he was no longer able to live in it.

[9] Their large vans differed distinctively from other makers in numerous details: side doors rather than rear, horizontal panelling and also common use of a clerestory window above.

Living vans for steam roller gangs on road construction began using pneumatic tyres in the 1930s, to avoid damage to newly-laid asphalt.

Living vans often included a coal stove for heating and cooking, depending on the seasonal nature of their work.

Unlike railway locomotives, the engine's own firebox was rarely used for cooking 'on the shovel' as it was too cramped and also provided no way to make a first cup of tea in the morning, before lighting up.