Alternative Coal Wagon Loads

[brynnydd]

Hello,

 

I read a few months ago in my LNER book that sugar beets were often transported in surplus coal wagons. I took that inspiration to make my own load for one of my wagons as while I love the look and character of coal wagons, the coal itself looks a bit dull.

 

I was wondering if anyone would know if any other goods were carried in these wagons? Hopefully with some photographic evidence? I've got two other coal wagons I'd like to fix up and am just really struggling to find any information about this topic at all on the internet sadly.

 

Thanks very much!

[Debs.]

I'm sure Mangelwurzels (as for sugar beet) would have been another bulk fodder rail traffic commodity, they being suited to relatively easy bulk handling and storage.

 

P.S The P.O wagon with the `beet load looks superb!

 

Edited March 8 by Debs.

[DCB]

I can see Beet etc being moved in railway company owned i5 and 7 plank "Coal" wagons but how would the wagon hire have worked using P.O wagons which were privately owned, and  maintained. prior to pooling in Sept 1939.    In the absence of photos I would stick to Company owned wagons,  these were pooled earlier than P.O wagons and often strayed far from home.  I understand the Great Eastern area retained quite a lot of old wagons including wooden frame  wagons for seasonal traffic.   I have always worked on the basis of the only legitimate load for PO coal wagons is pit props.

[brynnydd]

2 hours ago, DCB said:

I can see Beet etc being moved in railway company owned i5 and 7 plank "Coal" wagons but how would the wagon hire have worked using P.O wagons which were privately owned, and  maintained. prior to pooling in Sept 1939.    In the absence of photos I would stick to Company owned wagons,  these were pooled earlier than P.O wagons and often strayed far from home.  I understand the Great Eastern area retained quite a lot of old wagons including wooden frame  wagons for seasonal traffic.   I have always worked on the basis of the only legitimate load for PO coal wagons is pit props.

Thank you for the info but, I'm not looking for accuracy in the exact wagons, just their loads modeled. I'm just having fun building my fictional railways and I think the privately owned wagons are a lot more creative and cute.

[Robin Verth]

During times of low demand Private Owner wagons would be hired out, loads carried varied sugar beet, potato's, sand, gravel, stones, shingle, soil, bricks, iron ore, oil drums, building rubble, manure& treated sewerage (anyone remember Morganic fertiliser), almost any load is possible, During World War 2 there was a shortage of bolster wagons for the carriage of timber a number of private owner mineral wagons had there end doors removed and were permanently coupled end door end to end door end for carrying timber, others had the top plank over the  wagon door reduced in height, these were supposed to be used as merchandise wagons and not be loaded with coal, there is photographic evidence that some were loaded with coal. 

The charges would be levied via the Railway Clearing House.

[phil_sutters]

13 minutes ago, Robin Verth said:

During times of low demand Private Owner wagons would be hired out, loads carried varied sugar beet, potato's, sand, gravel, stones, shingle, soil, bricks, iron ore, oil drums, building rubble, manure& treated sewerage (anyone remember Morganic fertiliser), almost any load is possible,

Bear in mind that some commodities weigh more than others per cubic yard. Sand and shingle and some types of stone, for example, are denser loads than coal. So don't fill your coal wagons as full, with these types of loads. Dedicated sand and stone wagons are generally five or less planks high, as opposed to seven for coal.

Edited March 8 by phil_sutters

[Michael Hodgson]

That's a very convincing load.  What have you used to model the beets ?  I think you'd probably have had a trainload of such wagons in the season.  The recent Wisbech & Upwell models would look good with them.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

4 hours ago, Robin Verth said:

...building rubble...

...all the way to rubbish of any sort, London's waste was moved to landfill in pre-group and grouping days  in company wagons and then later BR's mineral fleet, including such delights as amputated limbs back in the day (yes, really).

 

And the railway's own rubbish: KX area sheds were weekly dispatching a goodly number filled with ash to worked out brickfield diggings such as Connington tip, and they won't have been unique...

[brynnydd]

16 hours ago, Debs. said:

I'm sure Mangelwurzels (as for sugar beet) would have been another bulk fodder rail traffic commodity, they being suited to relatively easy bulk handling and storage.

 

P.S The P.O wagon with the `beet load looks superb!

 

Thank you very much!

 

9 hours ago, Robin Verth said:

During times of low demand Private Owner wagons would be hired out, loads carried varied sugar beet, potato's, sand, gravel, stones, shingle, soil, bricks, iron ore, oil drums, building rubble, manure& treated sewerage (anyone remember Morganic fertiliser), almost any load is possible, During World War 2 there was a shortage of bolster wagons for the carriage of timber a number of private owner mineral wagons had there end doors removed and were permanently coupled end door end to end door end for carrying timber, others had the top plank over the  wagon door reduced in height, these were supposed to be used as merchandise wagons and not be loaded with coal, there is photographic evidence that some were loaded with coal. 

The charges would be levied via the Railway Clearing House.

Oh wow this is superb information. Thank you very much for your reply. I now have a bunch of ideas to ponder and see what I can make. :)

 

8 hours ago, phil_sutters said:

Bear in mind that some commodities weigh more than others per cubic yard. Sand and shingle and some types of stone, for example, are denser loads than coal. So don't fill your coal wagons as full, with these types of loads. Dedicated sand and stone wagons are generally five or less planks high, as opposed to seven for coal.

That is a very good point, thank you very much. I shall keep that in mind.

 

5 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

That's a very convincing load.  What have you used to model the beets ?  I think you'd probably have had a trainload of such wagons in the season.  The recent Wisbech & Upwell models would look good with them.

Thank you! I used quinoa. I used some white glue to affix a mound of quinoa to some foam board and seal the quinoa. I then made a wash with some brown paint and put it all over. Once that had dried I did an over-brush of a khaki, and finally a dry brush of a light khaki. It was pretty simple and quick to do.

 

4 hours ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

...all the way to rubbish of any sort, London's waste was moved to landfill in pre-group and grouping days  in company wagons and then later BR's mineral fleet, including such delights as amputated limbs back in the day (yes, really).

 

And the railway's own rubbish: KX area sheds were weekly dispatching a goodly number filled with ash to worked out brickfield diggings such as Connington tip, and they won't have been unique...

What a macabre cargo! Rubbish in general a very interesting idea, I'm now debating about making a compost wagon. Thank you very much.

[doilum]

The sugar beet harvest was a very seasonal event. Time was of the essence in getting the beet to the factory .

[Michael Hodgson]

37 minutes ago, doilum said:

The sugar beet harvest was a very seasonal event. Time was of the essence in getting the beet to the factory .

And being upwind of the factory was a good idea!

[Fat Controller]

In the 'Export or Die' days of the 1950s and 1960s, Vauxhall (and doubtless others) would send  crated CKD vehicles to the docks in whatever wagons were available. This included 16t Minerals.

[The Johnster]

Sugar beet, Manglewurzels, and other similar agriculturally based traffic is able to exploit the availability of surplus wagons in the domestic coal trade in the summer, as household coal was very much a seasonal product itself.  So, PO wagons might well appear with such loads, hired out to bring in some income during the slack period of the year.  Clearly, wagons such as MOY coal factors would be the ones most likely to be be used, as colliery wagons used in the export or for industrial fuel suppley will be employed all year round in that traffic.  MOY sound like a natural for the sugar beet traffic, being based in that part of the country.

[Steamport Southport]

If you are looking for genuine loads for coal wagons then pit props!

 

They needed an awful lot of them and I've seen photos of PO wagons with them in.

 

https://tarenicolliery.com/pit-props/

 

Loaded like this photo in a previous thread. I am aware that's not a PO wagon.

 

Click on the arrow to go to the thread.

 

 

Jason