This little LNWR interlude has coincided with the posting on the LNWR Society Facebook page of one of the most exciting pieces of 19th century railway film I've seen - eclipsing the Bushey 1897 and The Kiss in the Tunnel films for rarity if not for detail. Like those films, it is wonderfully clear and sharp - attributable to the use of 89 mm (3.5") film, I believe. It is stated to date from 1898 and features the Teutonic 3-cylinder compound 2-2-2-0 No. 1304 Jeanie Deans, in her day the most famous LNWR locomotive, purportedly at the head of the Irish Mail. It's on Youtube, so I think should be accessible outside the UK:

That's a bit of a fudge: the train is running on the up slow line through Bushey station and over the water troughs and the carriages are one of the Euston-Watford 50ft suburban sets. It's presumably an official publicity film, taking advantage of the four-track main line - much as was done in LMS days for the publicity film for the Coronation Scot train. As for "at full speed": reference to the contemporary OS 25 inch map shows that the up slow line signals seen at 2 s, 17 s, and 31 s are about 13 chains apart - 26 chains in 29 s is about 40 mph. 

No doubt everyone involved was very pleased with the technical set-up - filming a moving train from another moving train - a first? (Presumably the camera is set up in an open wagon.) There was probably much cursing when it was realised that no-one had thought to stop traffic on the down slow. For ten whole seconds Jeanie Deans is obscured by a train of empty mineral wagons - which is of course why I'm posting about the film on this thread!

Like the mineral train in the Bushey 1897 film, the train is hauled by one of Webb's 500 coal engines and tailed by a D16 brake van - this one finally giving me proof that the verandah end widows were glazed! Of the 45 or 46 wagons, fourteen are LNWR 4-plank wagons (positions 1-5, 7, 18, 27-29, 31-34). These could be either D4 merchandise opens or D53 coal wagons; I'm inclined to think they're all the latter, partly on the grounds that it's a mineral train but also because on several the curved brake lever is visible; according to LNWR Wagons Vol. 3 this style of lever only appeared on these wagons (and the D54 5-plank rebuilds). The accepted wisdom seems to be that the usual style of lettering of these wagons before the adoption of the LNWR initials in 1908 was like the model on the left:

(Looks like I need to go back and change that brake! D4 on the right, with single iron shoe push rod brake, which was typical for that diagram.)

Certainly in the film, the pair of diamonds can be seen on the second plank down; on some there's a hint of the inscription on the top plank. However, on the wagons in positions 18, 27, 29, and 34 are clearly lettered COAL WAGON on the second plank down. Looking through LNWR Liveries, there is an example of a wagon painted in this style, Plate 116, c. 1894/5. There it is said to be one of the earliest examples of D4 but as it's the non-brake side that is visible, I don't see how the two types can be distinguished. D53 wagons were built from 1883-1890 (15'0" long) and 1890-1894 (15'6" long); D4 wagons were built 1893-1902, all 16'0" long.

There is one other railway company wagon, a Great Northern 5-plank mineral wagon, position 30 - sandwiched between D53s.

The remaining wagons are all PO wagons and quite a mixed bunch. Unfortunately I don't think so many of them can be identified as in the Bushey 1897 film or the Wellingborough 1898 photos we looked at a couple of months ago. However, I was rather pleased with the sixth wagon, a 5-plank side door wagon, LEA & Co, LONDON, possibly numbered 317? There's an article on this firm in Turton's Thirteenth with a couple of photos of Hurst Nelson wagons of 1901 which have a similar layout and reveal that the word on the bottom plank of the door is the depot name, e.g. Highbury or Kingsland. Livery appears to be black, with white lettering shaded a light colour; this is consistent with the wagon in the film. If the number is 317, it would be one of thirty 8-ton wagons obtained from Stableford in 1892. What Turton doesn't mention but is easily come across by googling "lea & co wagon" is an interesting bit of litigation from 1880, by which it was established that a contractural obligation (in this case a repair contract) could be transferred to a third party. See for example this summary. 

8-10: 7-plank side and end door, middle one possibly ?TER

11-14: 4-plank raised ends, dumb buffers. Side doors are 3 planks with latches on the through top plank. Company name on second plank down with number above door.

15: 7 plank side door. PATES? 

16: 5-plank side door. J.J. WARD? 

17: 5-plank, but with top and bottom plank taller, about 12"; raised ends, side doors. P? Maybe same firm as 15.

19: 5-plank. PARRY. A well-known London coal factor.

20-21: Three wagons of Clarke, London. Possibly a first name on the top left? The first is a 5-plank wagon, again with deeper top and bottom planks, raised ends, and possibly dumb buffers. The other two are dumb buffered and both have four planks, but of different widths, so one is about 3'0" deep and the other maybe 3'8".

23: 7-plank side and end door.

24: 5-plank raised ends. MANNERS? There was a Manners Colliery near Ilkeston. It's not MANVERS as Manvers Main Colliery wasn't sunk until 1900/1.

25: 7-plank end door. It might just say SNEYD COLLIERY on the top two planks. However, the 1911 wagon in Hudson Vol. 3 is quite different in lettering style.

26: 4 wide planks, raised ends.

35: 5?-plank, raised ends. GREGORY(?) & SMITH. 

36: 4-plank, raised ends.

37: 7-plank, end door.

38: 5-plank, raised ends.

39 onwards: six or seven 6/7-plank end door wagons. Several of them have a 4-digit number over the door: 415 is legible; also an S on the end of one - they might be Stephenson Clarke wagons.

If anyone has any better ideas on identification, I'd be glad to know!