Compound2632

Unitary Authorities. Berkshire is an ex-county and has been since I forget when - late 1990s. If the unitary authority idea had caught on, then the gradation of tiering could be more subtle but for some arcane reason when it came to it every other county council found good reasons for its continued existence. The real disaster was that with the break-up of Berkshire County Libraries, when we moved over the border into Wokingham*, I lost access to Reading Central Library's loan copies of Bradley's Southern-constituent locomotive books. *Although where we live is really part of Readi

Very soon after the opening there was a newspaper report about a Manchester businessman who had been to Liverpool twice on the same day. Presumably first class, the second time at least!

There's no reason why they should, as the cattle wagons of the three companies had been pooled since August 1925. Note the absence of GWR vehicles - that company having declined to cooperate. I would suppose that internal K&ESR wagons, in common with those of other such lines, were not registered for running on the main lines, or that the K&ESR (ditto) was not party to the relevant RCH agreements. I don't fully understand tthe ins and outs of this so would be glad of an explanation from one who knows.

A hypercuboid, I believe.

@bbishop, there have been a couple of topics on cross-London services over the last year or so: For the Midland side of things, the map at the right hand end of this strip map gives the locations and routes to the Midland's coal depots and goods stations south of the river [Midland Railway Study Centre Item 20628].

@corneliuslundie, much as I suspected. I think one is really straining credulity for a genuine 19th-century GWR V6 still in ordinary traffic after nationalisation. I should think the chance of genuine BR grey livery is next to nil. Scrutiny of the GW wagon registers will reveal actual withdrawal dates.

I wouldn't like to say never but hardly ever, at least in the classic NER form. There were coal drops at various places such as the Cambridge St wharf on the Regents Canal but those were set up for tipping wagons. On the other hand, the standard Midland opens used for mineral traffic and a great many PO wagons running on the Midland system had bottom doors, so there must have been places where they were needed. Possibly, now I come to think of it, the south London coal depots. As for propping up the door: http://www.midlandrailwaystudycentre.org.uk/catimages/28926.jpg.

Small? Quaint?

What were the build dates for the Rhymney and other South Walian minks? I'm suspecting they may be younger than the Great Western ones, hand in hand with the vogue for Iron Mink-esque gunpowder vans c. 1904-8. (Possibly in response to an RCH specification?)

Several batches of wagons for Brentnall & Cleland were registered with the Midland Railway in the 1890s: 45 10 ton wagons built by Harrison & Camm, address given as London for one batch and Kew Bridge for the other, and 50 8 ton wagons built by Turners of Langley Mill. The latter were numbered 634-781 in steps of 3, i.e. missing out your 684, which, being a 12 ton wagon is evidently based on a later build. Anyway this does suggest a relatively large fleet. It's a question whether they were registered with the Midland because they were principally operated over that company's lines or b

Interesting. There seem to have been a variety of styles of which that on 13109 is the boldest. Remember that the solebar is of oak, so maybe not so easy to brand as pine. I don't see anything there that couldn't be done with a chisel. This wagon is from os Lot 31; I don't have a note of which works it was built at but not Saltney. The Saltney 1-planker 13521 of os Lot 33 has rather smaller letters (3" or so) carved out with a V profile - easily done with a chisel - but the number to the left of the V-iron and just G . W to the right; 2-plank 19159 of Saltney's os Lot 75 has similar but with G

My faith in humanity is restored!

In which case the Hattons carriages are genuine quickies.

At least that's an hypothesis based on observation.

Thanks Graham, a brilliant spot! I hadn't checked the number there and had assumed it was a standard 4-plank.