Living van

A living van is a portable caravan, used by the itinerant crew of a traction engine.

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

Traction engines in the Victorian period represented an expensive capital investment in the latest agricultural technology of the period. Many were owned by contractors who would move them from farm to farm for hire, as required. Typical work included threshing around harvest time. A rake of engine, threshing machine, a living van and often a water cart would travel from farm to farm as needed, stopping at each for a few days. The first engines, from around 1840, were portable engines: movable steam engines that were horse-drawn to move them, unlit, between farms. From the 1860s the locomotive traction engine appeared, now capable of moving under its own power. The engine's crew would include a driver, a steersman, and usually a boy. The agricultural labourers carrying out the threshing work would already be resident on the farm.