Parcels Trains in the Grouping Era

[Binky]

How were parcels handled in the grouping era? Were entire trains of parcels vans used or was it more common to see parcels stock added to passenger services?

 

Also would one railway company have handled vans belonging to another or did parcels stock tend to stay on home rails? For example would a GWR siphon or Southern ex SECR parcels van have appeared at a destination served solely by the LMS?

 

Many thanks for any advice.

[Wickham Green too]

Parcels vans were not Common User in the way that most wagons were, so the appearance of 'foreign' vehicles would not have been universal .......... there were, though specific traffic flows such as milk, newspapers and mail-order goods which would have seen regular 'cross-border' traffic to some destinations - also seasonal flows such as soft fruit.

[Nearholmer]

In answer to the first part: there were some “trunk” railway parcels trains, but much more common was the attachment of vehicles to passenger trains and, most common of all, the conveyance of parcels in the relevant parts of carriages with a guard’s compartment in passenger trains.