corneliuslundie

Very interesting photos at Ty Croes. I have alerted my colleagues on the WRRC publications working group so you may be getting a few new fans. Jonathan

I am impressed that your parent was using colour film when you were three. I have a photo of me in the garden with my first train at the same age, plastic and on plastic track. But black and white. Jonathan

In retrospect I agree that in all probability the coal would have come via the coal merchant and been delivered by him. I don't know enough about the coal trade to know whether the coal merchant would have sourced the anthracite. So wagons for the house coal colliery and the anthracite colliery needed if the coal merchant does not own one. If you want one for Mr Parry you could do what I am experimenting with and print the wagon side on a decal sheet. I'll be posting something on the Nentcwmdu thread when I have taken some photos. (Not my idea, suggested to me by another Welsh modeller.) Jonathan

Thinking about it, the brewery would need a delivery vehicle for the beer, so could move the coal from the yard to the brewery itself. And the next subject is barrels for delivering the beer. There has been a long discussion on the subject in the Midland wagon thread. Another rabbit hole. BTW there are now several north Wales distilleries. Would there have been any in 1895? Jonathan

I think either Mr Parry would order in the anthracite (probably in the colliery wagon) or the brewery would order via a coal factor, but in the latter case they would have to arrange unloading and transfer to the brewery whereas if it was purchased via Mr Mr Parry he might well deliver (and would have a vehicle to do it). If it came via a factor it might either be in a colliery wagon or in one belonging to the coal factor. So lots of choice. I really haven't a clue how much would be used by the brewery but I suspect that 10 tons would last quite a long time. Jonathan

For details of coal mined at collieries in south Wales an invaluable source is Tony Cooke's book and accompanying CD: "Gazetteer of the coal mines of South Wales & Monmouthshire from 1854" (Lightmoor, 2018). For Cwrt-y-Bettws (note spelling) it says: "Minerals worked - Manufacturing and steam coal" For Raglan Slants Bridgend, "Household and manufacturing coal", seam worked from 1908, and for Raglan No 4 Drift, Bridgend "Manufacturing and household coal 1911--1922" So both too late and not anthracite. Garnet slant was worked from much earlier, but seems to have stopped in 1875, starting again in 1880 but no proper records until 1910, again household and manufacturing coal. Anthracite was normally found only at the western side of the south Wales coalfield. I am therefore a bit puzzled by the 1902 photograph. According to Cooke, Ernest Hall Hedley and Henry Moreton Hedley (note the spelling) had interests in Brynwith, Cwmnantllwd & Cwmnantllwyd Old Level, Cwrt-y-Bettws, Garnet, Great Morfa, Gwyn’s Drift, Primrose No. 2, Raglan, Raglan No. 4, Tareni Nos 1 & 2, Tareni Level, Waunycoed, Waunycoed Drifts, Ynysfechan. So not much help for Chris I am afraid. But for anthracite almost any colliery west of Llanelly is likely. One problem with many of the PO wagon kits and transfers is that most are well after 1895. Jonathan

The Dolgelly line was GWR rather than Cambrian of course, so outside the scope of the book. Unfortunately there are no identifiable PO wagons in the book on the Llangollen-Dolgelley line by Rear and Jones - in fact hardly any PO wagons at all.But I would think that the collieries around Ruabon would have supplied quite a lot of coal to the coast line. Wynnstay and Vauxhall for example, possibly Plas Kynaston and Garden Lodge in earlier days. Dapol did a Vauxhall wagon. Jonathan

Not sure about the livery in C9826. Jonathan

Perhaps Mr Moxon has a contract with one of the local businesses to supply coal. As he is a factor the coal could have come from anywhere, even Nantcwmdu, though I haven't seen one of his wagons there. Or maybe it is anthracite from South Wales for the local brewery? But I am glad to see that Mr Parry has a wagon with proper buffers. It'll be Ok for another 17 years. Jonathan

I didn't mean to start a major discussion! And my comment "never again" was related to the temperature of the sea. Give me Durres in Albania for swimming. But to contribute to the resorts, from Cardiff a very popular resort was Weston super Mud. Miles of beach - and that was just looking for the sea when the tide was out. Jonathan

Stayed at Butlins once (A Spring Harvest event) at Easter and swam in the sea. Never again. I assume that the class 20s spent the week hauling mainly coal. Jonathan

In J923 was the track to the right of the line originally another line? It looks very much like it. Jonathan

I assume the soil must be pretty unstable (or is it something else?), to need such deep piling. Jonathan

J4374: that class 31 is looking pretty weatherbeaten. J

Lovely examples of weathering and dirt on those NCB wagons. Jonathan