Identification of vans in LNWR goods train

[kevinlms]

16 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

The guy who loaded the wagon was doing so on the instructions of the goods clerk, whose job it was to know, or at least, to know where to look it up!

Exactly, there were all sorts of obscure locations, not just towns and cities, but sidings and factories, collieries, mines etc.

So someone had to know, even if sent elsewhere for remarshalling. No good sending it 50 miles in the wrong direction, for someone it later get the task of finding it and correcting the mistake. 

Perhaps wasting a day.

[Buhar]

In one of the recent line society journals there were examples of questions for clerks' entry and progress examinations which included quite detailed questions about railway geography.

Alan

[Mol_PMB]

Clerks would have to know not just the geography and routing, but the mileage of the entire journey, in order to correctly charge for the shipment and write out the wagon label. Station offices had reference books containing such data. There were a lot of 'special cases' and local arrangements to consider.

[Dave John]

It might be the case that the CR d2 van in the ops photo is being returned, I don't know know where the photo was taken. 

 

The CR dead meat vans were built with hooked  rails across the wagon at cantrail height so that whole animal carcasses could be transported. Through pipes and later dual brakes, oil boxes and safety chains were fitted so that they could run as head end traffic with passenger trains. Needed if you had to get meat from Scotland to a London market relatively quickly. 

 

As for the return trip they may have been loaded, but clearly needing a good clean out first. 

 

 

 

 

[Compound2632]

Is there a date and location for this photo? It has a post-Great War feel to my mind, so the common user agreements were in force, although that wouldn't apply to a specialised wagon such as the CR meat van, which would still be subject to the foreign wagon home rules; unless, of course, the date is post-grouping - i.e. after 1 July 1923, as far as the CR was concerned.