Last use of Arnolds Liveried Sand Wagons

[Tallpaul69]

Good Afternoon All,

Can anyone tell me when the last sand wagons in Arnolds livery were in use?

l think that they were in use working out of Leighton Buzzard after coal wagons had all been repainted grey?

 

I am interested for two reasons:-

1) I would like to use one or two on my 00 gauge layout which is dated around late 1950s/early 1960s. 

2) Living in Leighton Buzzard, Arnolds are part of our local history, in which I am interested.

 

Many thanks

Paul

[Mol_PMB]

I can’t answer specifically for Arnold’s wagons. 

Certainly some private-owner sand wagons escaped pooling and nationalisation, generally because they didn’t have many doors. Few doors meant fewer places for sand to leak from, but also meant they weren’t suitable for general mineral/coal traffic. 

 

Pooled ex-PO wagons weren’t necessarily repainted grey, many just kept increasingly tatty remains of their original livery with some planks replaced and a new P number on a patch of black. But such wagons would have been common-user all over the country not necessarily on traffics for their original owner. 

 

In both cases, I’d say you would be fine in the early 1950s, such wagons would get less common in the late 1950s and early 1960s as they were replaced with new steel-bodied vehicles. 

[Wickham Green too]

On 05/12/2021 at 16:56, Mol_PMB said:

..... Pooled ex-PO wagons ..... would have been common-user all over the country not necessarily on traffics for their original owner. ....

If any were used for their original owners' traffic it would be purely by chance ........ though a few may never have escaped from a particular geographical area.

[Fat Controller]

On 05/12/2021 at 16:56, Mol_PMB said:

I can’t answer specifically for Arnold’s wagons. 

Certainly some private-owner sand wagons escaped pooling and nationalisation, generally because they didn’t have many doors. Few doors meant fewer places for sand to leak from, but also meant they weren’t suitable for general mineral/coal traffic. 

 

Pooled ex-PO wagons weren’t necessarily repainted grey, many just kept increasingly tatty remains of their original livery with some planks replaced and a new P number on a patch of black. But such wagons would have been common-user all over the country not necessarily on traffics for their original owner. 

 

In both cases, I’d say you would be fine in the early 1950s, such wagons would get less common in the late 1950s and early 1960s as they were replaced with new steel-bodied vehicles. 

Pilkington's wooden-bodied sand tipplers remained in service until the end of the 1960s. They appear to have had wooden solebars and headstocks. They remained in fairly good external condition to the end I would imagine Arnold's wagons would have been in similar condition.

[65179]

Paul,

 

I think @Mol_PMB has given you a good indication of the right timeline for these wagons.  Some Arnolds Sands wagons certainly escaped wartime pooling and were repainted post-war. One of Keith Turton's Private Owner Wagons books has a short section on Arnolds Sands. It shows a 4 plank wagon in reasonable condition with a 1949 paint date. A quick Google search for "Grovebury sidings", "Dunstable branch sand" etc pulls up some early 1960s views where BR wagons have replaced the private owners:

 

A view added to Flickr by Richard:

 

Another added to Flickr by Andy:

 

 

Regards 

 

Simon