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Forest of Dean 'Toad' brake van markings


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I would be grateful if anyone could point me in the right direction as to how ex-GW 'Toad' brake vans were marked up in BR days, specifically the late 1950s to mid-1960s period, please.

 

I would assume that some might be marked 'Lydney' and I think that there was at least one marked 'Bullo Pill' in GWR days, but what other markings were there, what were their running numbers etc.?

 

Many thanks.

 

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29 minutes ago, Captain Kernow said:

I would be grateful if anyone could point me in the right direction as to how ex-GW 'Toad' brake vans were marked up in BR days, specifically the late 1950s to mid-1960s period, please.

 

I would assume that some might be marked 'Lydney' and I think that there was at least one marked 'Bullo Pill' in GWR days, but what other markings were there, what were their running numbers etc.?

 

Many thanks.

 

 

See the several variants of my transfer Sheet BL166 at https://www.cctrans.org.uk/products.htm

 

These numbers / allocations are taken from a list of prototypical brakevan numbers / allocations.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

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1 hour ago, Captain Kernow said:

I would be grateful if anyone could point me in the right direction as to how ex-GW 'Toad' brake vans were marked up in BR days, specifically the late 1950s to mid-1960s period, please.

Many thanks.

 

 

Tim, I believe there may have been a Lydbrook marked van too. I can't recall seeing anything out of the unusual as far as markings go in all the images I have of the FoD, so all mine are modelled with typical standard positions for the data. I do have one image of a horsebox at Coleford Jnc, where the van has Branch use routes on the end panel. Unfortunately as its out of focus you can't tell if its a local van or what the markings are. As it was a special, its possible that the van may not be local.

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44 minutes ago, PMP said:

Thank you John.

I can recall seeing a Lydbrook name on a van but not the full pairing. Can you recall if theres a van with the end panel markings in your sheets?

 

My mistake - I misread my own web-site!

 

There are : -

 

Sheet BL166B

 

AA19 - W114939 - BULLO PILL R.U.

 

Sheet BL166H-L

 

AA3 - W56034 - LYDBROOK R.U.

 

AA13 - W17808 - LYDNEY R.U.

 

Not sure what you mean by "the end panel markings".

 

John Isherwood.

 

 

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6 minutes ago, cctransuk said:

 

 

Not sure what you mean by "the end panel markings".

 

John Isherwood.

 

 


These circled, I think they’re branch routings, perhaps @Stationmaster might be able to confirm?

 

34BDFC94-E9CF-4B3F-B4F1-28B801639975.jpeg.dce70a01be58995c44dd51488aa69e22.jpeg

Edited by PMP
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To be pedantic (nothing new there!), in B.R. days the wagon plate was almost (as in I cannot remember seeing one otherwise*) always picked out leaving the company initials black (i.e.  just W, M, S, or E).

 

* There almost certainly was, but, since no-one looks for work, the painters would have happily left them in the background colour. They rapidly became dirty grey-brown anyway.

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may I respectfully suggest that RU workings tended to be specific locations, such as Bullo Pill, Lydney, etc. Otherwise, it'll be a 'common user' branding anywhere from Ebbw Junction, Maesglas, Severn Tunnel Junction, all the way up to Gloucester. 

 

It never ceases to amaze me that South Wales lay claim to being the biggest coal producer, but the Dean Forest had a thriving mining industry right up until recent times. I think there used to be some private workings as well, but I could be mis-informed.  

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You''ve sort of answered your own question in a way, Ian.  The bigger South Wales pits were absorbed into the NCB in 1947, to much accolade of the 'now the people own the pits we can run them properly' sort; by the 1980s the Coal Board was every bit as much of an enemy as the owners had been.  But in the Dean. matters are different and mining rights owned by free foresters by ancient custom, and the pits are mostly privately owned drift mines, not large NCB complexes.  Such mines still exist in South Wales; I believe the NCB was only authorised to take on concerns of a certain size and above.  

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12 hours ago, tomparryharry said:

the Dean Forest had a thriving mining industry right up until recent times.

I love the optimism that views 1965 as 'recent times' ;) - that being the year the last deep mine (Northern United, north of Cinderford) closed.

Granted there is still some Freemining still going on in the Forest but I'm not sure even they would describe it as 'thriving'...?? :scratchhead:

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I have never met a drift mine owner, or a farmer for that matter, anywhere in South Wales or the Dean, that has ever described their business as 'thriving'.  Freemining would not be carried on unless it was turning a profit, though I'm not trying to put over that anyone is going to be rich doing it.  The trick to survival in the Dean is to do a bit of freemining, a bit of grazing sheep on common land, a bit of farming, and a bit of subcontracting this and that, maybe run a tea shop or something for the tourists, caravan site, anything to turn a (mostly) honest bob, and this has been the way of life there for a very long time.

 

I'm not sure of my fact here, but I believe the Northern United pit was the only deep mine in the Dean and the only one operated by the NCB.  Rail traffic after that was largely limestone ballast via Lydney, basically what is now the DFR.

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