British Railways was created in 1948. Whilst much has been published on BR locomotives and passenger stock, accurate and detailed coverage of the large inventory of vehicles used to convey the huge volumes of goods traffic carried by the railways at that time, is less readily available. This new series sets out to provide that information.
This volume focuses on the coal wagons built to the Railway Clearing House specification dating from 1923. The wagons built under this were originally rated at 12 ton capacity through this was uprated to 13 tons at the outbreak of the Second World War. In this volume the vehicles built for the ‘Big Four’ companies are covered in detail as are those delivered to Private Owners with their numerous complex door variations, which also came into the inventory of the newly formed BR.
Some of those former Private Owner wagons were specifically designed to carry coke from the outset. British Railways treated these acquisitions, together with dual-purpose coal/coke wagons and others converted after the war to carry coke only, as a special category of vehicle. These variations are examined in detail in this latest addition to this series.