Puzzle photo of Wisbech east goods yard.

[Caley Jim]

It wasn't just other companies freight vehicles that could be brought in for seasonal traffic.  The Caledonian borrowed stock from other Westinghouse using companies for the extra traffic generated by the Glasgow 'Fair' holidays.

 

Jim

[Edwardian]

1 hour ago, Schooner said:

 

A smile-inducing statement, cheers

 

It did strike me that someone might suggest that, outside the strawberry season, the vans were to be used for cabbage traffic ... 

[Regularity]

5 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

 

It did strike me that someone might suggest that, outside the strawberry season, the vans were to be used for cabbage traffic ... 

Swedes, surely?

[Edwardian]

2 minutes ago, Regularity said:

Swedes, surely?

 

Arrrghh, carrot and swede, traumatic '70s childhood flash back!

 

Time for an Emergency Gin

[Regularity]

1 minute ago, Edwardian said:

Time for an Emergency Gin

Glad to have been of assistance!

[MarcD]

That reminds me of Christmas lunch.

Marc

[Compound2632]

On 21/04/2020 at 18:34, Edwardian said:

 

 

These would not be pooled or common user wagons, so the practice of sending foreign wagons to the GER need not have changed much.

 

If it helps, wagon 76154 bears pre-1911 NER lettering. 

 

See also ...

 

 

 

 

Very exciting photos! Any info on locations and dates? M&GN No. 42's train seems to be mostly made up of the Great Northern's rather characteristic and characterful clerestory-roofed fruit vans. The bottom photo is presumably a Midland location. From left to right:

• the fruit van version, D375 (60 built 1887/8) of the low-roofed covered goods wagon of the D353 type that, with the open sliding door obscuring the louvres - note the letter A on the door - this appears to be a 19th-century marking for Midland fruit vans, distinguishing them from other types of covered goods wagon;
• two 16'6" fruit vans to D378 (100 built 1896); 
• an open, probably D299;
• another D375;
• probably another 16'6" vehicle;
• and the last two repeated, probably.

There seem to be sacks being loaded as well as baskets - potatoes?

 

Oh for a sharper print!

 

 

Edited April 30, 2020 by Compound2632

[Dungrange]

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but when Oxford Rail introduced their model of the GER banana vans, the information that they published about these was:

 

"The Great Eastern Railway did not possess any vans of their own for banana trade and usually hired vans to transport the fruit from other companies. The GER would often run complete trains of between 20 to 25 vans in total. It was not until after the Great War that imports of bananas recommenced and an order was placed in 1923 to build 100 covered vans with hand and vacuum brakes plus steam-heating to help ripen the fruit. By the end of 1923, the building of the vans was completed and they became the last GER design vans to be built. These vans lasted well and survived into the 1960s."

 

I'm assuming that the situation could have been similar for strawberries or indeed any other perishable traffic where the originating company did not possess enough vans to meet their export needs.  I'm not sure whether there was regular companies that the GER hired from, or whether that was influenced by the intended destination of the produce.  It would certainly make some sense to hire vans from the destination area as there is then only one empty inward run and then a loaded outward run before they go off hire.  Hired from elsewhere would have more empty running.

[Compound2632]

I wonder if @Edwardian could see his way to reloading his photos to this interesting topic?

[Tom Burnham]

The GE would surely have had some incoming fruit traffic to the jam factory at Histon (even if the aim was to use locally grown fruit where possible), so other companies' fruit vans might then have been available for return loads, although it would have taken a certain amount of organisation.