Conflat container codes, what did they carry?

[Possy92]

Hi all,

 

Currently researching Conflat containers, and their various codes, simply put, what do they mean, and what did they carry?

 

For instance, I've seen AF, which I'm pretty sure is frozen meat/fish

And BD, BK, FM and AX but unsure what they carried?

 

I've looked on Paul Bartletts website and found plenty of examples, and some interesting loads... but none with their doors open so I can see inside!

 

Any help would be appreciated

 

Kind regards

 

[Steven B]

This document on the Barrowmore MRG website gives all the details:

http://www.barrowmoremrg.co.uk/BRBDocuments/BRContainerIssue.pdf

http://www.barrowmoremrg.co.uk/BRBDocuments/BRContainerIssueB.pdf

http://www.barrowmoremrg.co.uk/BRBDocuments/Container_Book_JDF_Issue.pdf

 

There were two main types, A and B. A were generally about half the length of a type B. Some types beginning with A, e.g. AFC could be just as long as a type B so be careful! There were several designs of the basic type A and type B with different styles of planking and doors. The second letter gives more of a clue as to what might be inside:

 

A - 4 ton capacity

AF - insulated

AFC - insulated

AFU - insulated with eutectic plate (cold storage plates)

AX

B - 5 tone capacity

BA - side door

BC - 4 ton capacity with racks for bicycles

BF - insulated

BD - side doors

BM - ventilated

F - insulated

H - Hod, usually for carrying bricks

FM - 14' 6" long, 4 ton capacity specifically for frozen meat - included hanging bars for carcases.

L - special containers for cement

LD - hopper

[Possy92]

Thank you kindly! Very useful information

[Fat Controller]

Was the BK the one fitted with rails for hanging new bicycles on?

[Steven B]

My understanding is that the BC had cycle hooks/rails whilst the BK was for furniture. The diagram books don't show what made the BK different from a B. I'm guessing it may have had additional internal lashing points.

 

Steven B

[The Johnster]

There’s websites for that sort if thing, Steven. 

[watfordtmc]

P,

 

If you looked inside an empty one, for most containers you’d see a lot of unpainted wood, with some painted metal strapping.  Some early containers, and a few later ones were produced in metal, which I think would have been painted (or galvanised), and in the early 1960’s there were a small number of fiberglass containers, but I do not know if these were finished internally in any way other than the fibreglass colour.

 

The meat carrying types – BM & FM principally - would have been varnished internally to protect the wood from moisture, some of which would have been a blood red colour…  I personally suspect that sawdust would have been strewn over the floors of these when loaded as well but I have no evidence for this.

 

The highly insulated types – AF, AFP and AFU for instance seem to have been finished internally with galvanised metal facings, so would have looked a metal colour!

 

Most of the BM/FM and AF types seem to have had a metallic floor covering as well by BR days.

 

If you peered into an AX containers when the roof hatch was taken off I would think that all you would see is a chilly mist as the warm outside air reacted with the extremely cold contents.

 

Other internal fittings would depend on the type in question.  BC containers were fitted with racks to load bicycles in two tiers, one on top of the other; BK containers had horizontal laths to which items’ of furniture could be secured.  The BM and FM types were fitted with roof bars and hooks for sides of meat to hang from.

AFU containers were fitted with ‘eutectic plates’ about which I can say nothing other than it was a system of cooling, whilst AFP’s had dry ice bunkers at roof level.

 

 

Containers codes are an extremely complicated subject.  Brief samples of some of the better known ones are:

 

A – Small Covered (General Merchandise)

AF – Highly Insulated (Frozen Goods)

AFP – Highly Insulated, Frozen Palletised Goods (The ‘Birds Eye’ containers)

AX – Dry Ice.  Resemble a large wooden crate with a roof door (Or lid really)

 

B – Large Covered; End Doors only (General Merchandise)

BC – Large Covered; End Doors only, Bicycle Racks

BD – Large Covered; End and Side Doors (General Merchandise)

BK – Large Covered; End Doors only, Furniture

BM – Fresh Meat, fitted with bars and hooks

 

D – Large Open; End Door (General Merchandise)

DX – Large Open; End Door and Drop or Demountable Sides (General Merchandise)

 

F – Large Insulated (Meat and Perishable Goods)

FM – Large Insulated, fitted with bars and hooks (Meat mostly)

 

H – ‘Hod’; a very small container for conveying building materials to work sites (Bricks/Tiles etc.)

 

L – Bulk Powders (Cement for example)

LD – Large Hopper, Dolomite

 

 

I would suggest that you try and get hold of a copy of LNER Wagons, Volume 4B (Tatlow, P, Wild Swan Books [Bath] 2015) as this includes a small number of interior views of containers.

 

The book also notes containers being used to carry the following goods:

 

Covered General Merchandise

Baths, Biscuits, Boots, Carpets, Castings, Cocoa, Chocolate, Confectionery, Cookers, Earthenware, Enamelware, Furniture, Hardware, Joinery, Paper, Pianos, Record Players, Shrubs, Silk yarn, Stoves, Sugar and Tin-ware.  The GWR certainly allocated some of their containers to carry tobacco, and I’ve seen a photograph of tins of paint being unloaded from a GWR container.  I’ve been told one of the last traffics carried in these containers was glass bottles.

 

Meat and Frozen Goods

Chilled, Fresh or Frozen Meat in BM/F/FM containers; sides of meat would be hung from hooks but I suspect smaller joints would have been laid on the floor.  Also butter and paper and I believe the SR used FM containers to carry bananas.  There’s an image on RM Web somewhere of an “FMF” container, which seems to have been specifically allocated to fish traffic.

 

Frozen Goods seems to have been packed in cardboard cartons largely, no doubt branded with the producer’s business name.

 

Such photographs as I’ve seen of AX containers are all of the LNER type, branded for return to ICI, Haverton Hill.  These were used to carry ‘Drikold’ a propriety brand of dry ice.

 

Open General Merchandise

Tatlow quotes: Baths, Bottles, Box Boards, Bricks, Castings, Concrete & Plaster Blocks, Cookers, Earthenware, Hardware, Iron and Steelwork, Machinery, Radiators, Ranges, Registers (?), Scrap Tin, Tiles, and Trees (imported from the Netherlands).

 

 

Your question only referred to the covered types of containers, and you don’t state your period of interest.  However, you may care to note that open containers seem to fall out of favour quite rapidly in BR days.  Dr. Beeching’s famous report noted that on average, open containers made less than three loaded journeys a year.  So I wouldn’t bother with too many of them.

 

Regards

TMc