Brentnall & Cleland PO wagons, their natural habitat

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Hi all,

 

I’m looking for info/photos of B&C wagons, preferably around the Wigan area. But anywhere else is good as well.

 

thanks,

 

Douglas

 

Edited November 23, 2020 by Florence Locomotive Works

[Nearholmer]

Although B&C were a London-based company,  where they sold direct to domestic and small-industrial users, they seem to have traded all over the place as wholesale coal merchants. Graces Guide contains a snippet suggesting that they had offices in "Birmingham, Manchester & elsewhere", and I think* this photo shows one of their wagons in Edinburgh https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/brentnall-and-cleland-freight-wagons-the-factory-is-close-news-photo/90773780

 

I don't think they were "coal factors", buying from mines and selling to merchants as well as wholesale customers, but they might have been.

 

My guess is that their wagons were chosen as models by Stedman/Leeds, and other model firms too, because they were seen very widely across the country.

 

*I'm not totally sure its Edinburgh, though, because I think I can see an LNWR brake van, and the situation of the factory does remind me of a huge biscuit factory that still exists at Willesden in north London.

 

** There's another photo of the same factory on McVitie's own history website - it is the one at Willesden, which they cite as Harlesden, and it was opened in 1902.

Edited November 23, 2020 by Nearholmer

[Florence Locomotive Works]

23 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Although B&C were a London-based company,  where they sold direct to domestic and small-industrial users, they seem to have traded all over the place as wholesale coal merchants. Graces Guide contains a snippet suggesting that they had offices in "Birmingham, Manchester & elsewhere", and I think* this photo shows one of their wagons in Edinburgh https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/brentnall-and-cleland-freight-wagons-the-factory-is-close-news-photo/90773780

 

I don't think they were "coal factors", buying from mines and selling to merchants as well as wholesale customers, but they might have been.

 

My guess is that their wagons were chosen as models by Stedman/Leeds, and other model firms too, because they were seen very widely across the country.

 

*I'm not totally sure its Edinburgh, though, because I think I can see an LNWR brake van, and the situation of the factory does remind me of a huge biscuit factory that still exists at Willesden in north London.

Thank you Kevin, that was very helpful, and the biscuit factory was very interesting. 
 

Douglas

[Compound2632]

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 because their builders' works were on the Midland.

[J. S. Bach]

I apologize but I read the first word on the thread title as "Beavertail" and thought of the beavertail observation cars of the Milwaukee Road's HIAWATHA passenger train:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver_Tail_(railcar)

 

Images Note that the MILW cars are the orange ones:

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffnt&q=beavertail+observation+car&atb=v170-1&iax=images&ia=images

 

After I opened the thread, I realized my mistake.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

22 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

I apologize but I read the first word on the thread title as "Beavertail" and thought of the beavertail observation cars of the Milwaukee Road's HIAWATHA passenger train:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver_Tail_(railcar)

 

Images Note that the MILW cars are the orange ones:

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffnt&q=beavertail+observation+car&atb=v170-1&iax=images&ia=images

 

After I opened the thread, I realized my mistake.

A welcome interlude Dave, it has always been an ambition of mine to get a Lionel one. (The full train, not just the car)