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Illustrating pooling of wagon sheets - a double-sheeted wagon with LMS and LNER sheets (better seen in the gwr.org.uk photo). And for those who like that kind of thing, an ex-Midland D299 - with oil axleboxes, either from one of the late lots or more likely, upgraded from grease. No. 57??7 ?

I read that as a typo for "hay", rather than suggesting anything else! My underlining. This all suggests that the fortnightly delivery could be a single wagon loaded with the appropriate combination of ingredients - the heavy sacks of oats at the bottom, with the hay piled up loose on top. This gentleman really needs to give over shouting at his staff, for the sake of his own larynx if no other reason.

But not necessarily by the railway company - farmers of adjoining land could apply.

Right, I meant the other Simon As Miss P. says, photos of the Didcot provender store show an overwhelming number of other Opens, so the Q1s were always a small minority. Perhaps the result of an aborted attempt to improve safety, or perhaps make better use of limited siding space in some yards (one high wagon rather than two lower ones)? Thanks Don! As Compound mentions, I wrote up some detail on GWR provender from one of Tony Atkin's excellent books (recommended) in a post here:

The Provender wagons are a bit of an anomaly, few in number, so they could not have been regarded as much of a success, otherwise a lot more of them would have been made. The vast majority of hay was transported in normal opens.

"The provender must be weighed on its receipt, and should a deficiency of any of the component parts be discovered, the circumstances must be at once reported. Great care must be taken to prevent waste and misappropriation." That reads to me as an injunction to unload the wagon promptly. There was some discussion of how provender got to Didcot in @Mikkel's earlier posts on his stable block, I think.

I think that they found that it was easier to just use one of the normal range of open wagons than to have to search for the rare and probably elusive dedicated provender wagons. I bet those were rarely emptied immediately. Where were the provender supplies shipped from.? I don't envy the desk clerk trying to balance his/her books, regarding (loose) hay and straw quantities. Doesn't Mikkel lead us into uncharted territories !!! Fascinating stuff.. Thanks Mikkel .

For Lydham Heath, try Regularity, he haS Some Strange tendencieS.

Mixing and matching can be strangely satisfying. I had to zoom in a lot to notice the colour difference, so no problem I think. Nice save with the emblem and lining!

That one I didn't get, but I won't ask . BTW Simon I just found your Lydham Heath thread, didn't know it was with you now. I think I saw it at Watford in 1997 or thereabouts, made a big impression. Meanwhile back at the ranch, I got out the looking glass and read some instructions from the GWR Horse Dept that are reproduced in Tony Atkins' GWR Goods Cartage Vol. 1 (p76). Unfortunately there is no date. "All requisitions for Provender must be made (through book no. 605) to the Horse Superintendent. They will be due at his office on each alternate Thursday [...] A supply for fourteen days ending on a Monday must be ordered each time, except for those Stations specially instructed to order weekly [...] The provender must be weighed on its receipt, and should a deficiency of any of the component parts be discovered, the circumstances must be at once reported. Great care must be taken to prevent waste and misappropriation." So this suggests bi-weekly delivery as the norm, rather than weekly as stated elsewhere. The weighing is also interesting. How would that be done I wonder. Perhaps there would be scales at the stables. As for misappropriation, yes that would be high crime wouldn't it! Never mind the Medellin Cartel, the infamous Farthing Hay & Fodder Ring strikes again!

Does the same apply to the Prime Minister’s head?

I suppose the sacks must be fodder horses...! Sorry!

But for the same load the larger wagon will have the greater tare weight.

It’s big because the load is not very dense.

Beautiful work as always, and fascinating too. My stables for Bricklayers Arms are nearing completion so my thoughts are turning to hay so your article is very timely and extremely useful. I will be shamelessly copying a few techniques here especially the use of plumbers hemp. Thank you.

That was my first sheeted wagon (in modern times) and as far as I can recall I was following my nose so I was really pleased when I came across this: [gwr.org.uk] It's the other railway but tucked in corners seem to have been the aim: It gets tricky once the load piles up above the sides of the wagon, as with your load of provender. Then one's up against the challenge of representing loose folds and general bagginess. There was a post on my wagon building thread giving a link to a sailing-ship-modelling website - I've not tried their methods but there are some interesting techniques illustrated there.

Thanks Grahame. I think the plumber's hemp works fairly well. For 4mm scale I found I had to cut it in very short fine bits though, almost like static grass. I actually like the smell. It reminds me of something good from my childhood, not sure what! Regarding clean nails, it is fortunate that I do not model with my feet. That's useful info about the sheets, Stephen. In my mind the yard entry is a trailing one, so that should be OK Hay balers began to appear just before the turn of the century, but most photos I have seen from the early 1900s appear to show “loose” hay and straw. Yet surely it must somehow have been tied up beneath those high-mounted sheets, or it would have been all over the place. https://faketrumptweet.com/

Aha, two sheets to the wind, eh? Not sure where Donald Trump has disappeared to, but at least his syrup has been found:

Thanks, chaps. You're very kind. It's not too difficult to make these little folks look good though, is it? I've been using them to try out all sorts of things, some of which have worked.