"R.U." on a brake van

[muggins]

What does/did it mean?

[stuartp]

"Restricted Use", usually followed on the GWR/WR at least by a list of where it was allowed to go.

Brakevans were often controlled almost as closely as locos, usually to stop them wandering off and accumulating in dark corners of the wrong yard.

[Bufferstop]

My mothers uncle was a goods guard LMS then BR(M), he would grumble and moan for hours if he got allocated a van from a different section, usually it was to do with having the right bits of paper for the job. Went on for days about being put in a WR Toad!

[6C]

Certainly in BR times this wasn't too strict see - Hornbys R6257 toad - W17274 which was restricted - according to the bodyside lettering to 2 trains only between Birkenhead and Bersham Colliery (around 18 miles apart) and return, but it was seen in Worcester !

I suspect this was for Loco Coal - for the busy Birkenhead Mollington Street Depot.