Ex- Private owner wagons

[HornbyinNC]

I have always liked the colourful private owner wagons, but have little opportunity to model them as they typically ran prior to Nationalisation. 

However, many of these, particularly the open wagons became "pool" wagons during the early days of BR, many lasting into the 1960's and were allocated a "P" prefix to a newly issued number.  Many of these wagons carried vestiges of their previous identities until they were disposed of, although in various sad state of repair.

Bachmann has made some nice weathered sets of coal trader wagons, but to my knowledge, all have  been produced with their Private Owner identities. 

They may be a niche product, but, for me, at least, it would be nice to see them in RTR form.

[LCDR]

I have had great satisfaction in taking the pristine Private Owner wagons produced by Mainline, Dapol, Bachmann, Hornby etc., and weathering them, removing the owner's numbers and replacing these with P prefix numbers using Modelmaster and Fox transfers. I also added tare numbers, the white end door diagonal stripe, and bottom door markings.  Unfortunately most of these models obtained second hand for very little money are not 100% dimensionally accurate. Most have the 17' 6" underframe and body length , but I reasoned that if I run them together in a train nobody would look too closely! Private owners were usually 16' 6" over headstocks or less. 

 

The numbers applied after 1948 were applied by many different workshops and wagon repairers including the newly formed National Coal Board workshops. Numbers were allocated in blocks to these places and numbers were applied more or less at random. The workshop were supposed to send returns showing what the new and old numbers were, but between 1948 and 1962, BR managed to lose or destroy all the records. However the original rewgistratioin numbers were stamped on the solebar and registers of the old registrations applied by the pre-Nationalisation companies mostly exist. 

 

Later when wagons were being withdrawn some records were retained, but most vanished. I therefore applied what can only be regarded as fictitious numbers, but if anybody wants to argue with me about it I challenge them to show written proof that the number is wrong!

 

Some years ago I wrote the following which I hope may prove interesting.

 

Since the very earliest days coal moved on the railways in privately owned wagons. The railway companies hated them, because they were small, of low capacity, restricted in speed and had high rolling resistance mainly because of the grease lubrication, and a fair proportion were badly maintained too. There were moves at various times by some railways, notably the Midland to buy them out and substitute their own wagons, and in the North East the North Eastern Railway encouraged the use of its own wagons to the shipping staithes by introducing higher capacity hopper wagons, for which they would offer a better rate. The government too recognised the strategic importance of coal traffic, and the uneconomic practices that permeated the P.O. wagon system, not least the high proportion of empty running needed to return wagons to their owners to re-load. Following a census by the government it was determined that on 1st January 1928 there were 622,497 open wagons privately owned for carrying coal, coke and other minerals. Coal was the largest traffic with 563,178 vehicles. The 430 colliery proprietors owned most wagons with a total combined stock of 421,400 approximately. Coal traders and merchants of which there were nearly 3,500 owned 128,834 of the rest. The Big 4 railway companies themselves had approximately 176,000 open wagons for use in coal traffic.

 

The vast majority of these wagons were wooden constructed vehicles of between 8 and 12 tons carrying capacity, with most being ten tons. Construction was mostly of timber and side and end door discharge was prevalent. All the wagons were built to Railway Clearing House standard designs and the commonest basic dimensions were 16 feet 6 inches over headstocks and a wheelbase of 9 feet. Grease axle bearing lubrication was still prevalent. The new 14/16 ton all steel mineral wagon which being developed as War broke out was also to these dimensions but was able to carry at least three tons more.

 

In September 1939, under Defence Regulation 53, 583,789 of these privately owned coal and mineral open wagons were requisitioned by the Ministry for War Transport ‘for the duration’. As well as these there were 21,310 other privately owned wagons that were not requisitioned of which 7,635 were tank cars and the rest were for specialised traffic. Early in the War the petroleum tank wagon fleet was ‘pooled’ but not requisitioned, and a further large fleet of 14 ton tank wagons were built by the Air Ministry to supply fuel to their airfields.

 

In 1947 just before nationalisation the total of requisitioned ex PO wagons was 563,404 of which 485,817 were declared available for traffic, the others were awaiting repair. Non-requisitioned PO wagons in 1947 totalled 24,761. All the requisitioned wagons were nationalised under section 29 of the Transport Act 1947 , and the original owners were compensated.

 

The British Transport Commission decreed that only wagons with oil lubrication were to be repaired, and embarked upon a massive building programme of 16 ton capacity all steel mineral wagons to replace the entire decrepit P.O. coal wagon fleet. However steel and labour shortages meant that the new build programme had to be phased over the next ten years, and a large number of ex PO wagons survived on B.R. well into the mid 1960s. The following is a table of year by year totals in stock.

 

Year           Total                Year                  Total

1947          544,694             1953               317,162

1948          489,810             1954               280,011

1949          421,816             1955               239,579

1950          391,007              1956              190,345

1951           364,065             1957              138,123

1952            341,280            1958              103,526

 

 After 1958 BR records of ex PO wagons were not separately published, however it is estimated that in 1962 about 60,000 were still in existence, but by 1966 the number was less than 1,000. Well over half the original total were lubricated by grease and were withdrawn more quickly than those with oil lubrication, however slow delivery of the new 16 ton all steel wagons resulted in 190,000 grease lubricated wagons still in stock in 1952, and 43,800 still in 1956. However by the end of 1957 all had been scrapped or sold.

 

A fairly large number of former P.O. wagons were returned to the collieries for use internally, the National Coal Board marked them for internal use only, either with a white St. Andrew’s cross, or white stripes, and a few of these even remained in existence until the late 1980s. Some were transferred to the British Transport Docks Board internal fleet and a few were sold to industrial users, such as British Sugar and Austin Motors. Some of these actually lasted until the 1990s so even diesel era modellers could include a few in a colliery or works siding as ‘internal users’.

 

From 1949 unfitted (i.e. those without vacuum brakes) wooden bodied mineral wagons were officially to be finished in unpainted wood with grey ironwork. Steel bodied wagons were to be painted grey unless they were ‘fitted’ or ‘piped’ when they were to be painted in a shade of red brown known as ‘bauxite’. BR however did not normally repaint or remove the finish of the old 10 ton grease lubricated wagons, simply leaving the original paintwork to gradually deteriorate. Wagons formerly belonging to owners who had specified high quality finishes in bright colours would remain bright for a considerable time, but of course cleaning and repairs were no longer practiced. The original owner’s number was obliterated and a new B.R. ‘P’ prefixed number consisting of white figures on a black patch together with the registered carrying capacity in tons at the left hand bottom corner, and a tare weight in tons and quarters to the right bottom corner. Wagons that had an end door had a diagonal line painted from the bottom corner of the side door to the point where the end door hinge appeared, to aid staff responsible for tipping to ensure that the wagons arrived the right way round. This marking was usually applied to the diagonal strap in that quarter of the wagon, and was often crudely applied. Wagons with bottom trap doors in the floor had two diagonal lines on a black patch painted at the centre of each side in the form of a small divided ‘vee’. No other painting was attempted. It was therefore still possible to make out the original owner’s name and livery faintly displayed on the sides for the rest of their existence. When damage occurred and new planks were fitted these were usually left unpainted and allowed to weather to a dirty grey finish. Unlike BR and former company owned wagons number-plates were not attached, and although the original registration plates were supposed to be removed, a lot still carried them. Re-numbering was done at random, because the wagon works who did it took the next number in a block of numbers allocated to them and applied it to the next wagon to arrive. It must have been an accountant’s nightmare!

 

Some of the surviving oil lubricated wagons were given overhaul and were repainted in grey, so lost the traces of the owners markings, but right up until the end the old liveries could still be found, and enthusiasts from time to time traced out the outline of the lettering in chalk.

 

A 1950s era BR railway modeller should therefore include these wagons in their goods trains and goods yards intermixed with the newer 16 ton steel mineral wagon. Weathering and altering the livery to represent the condition they were found in is fairly easy and can be great fun. The good news is that these mineral wagons turn up second-hand at exhibitions, swap-meets and model shops very cheaply so they make a great starter exercise for a novice.

 

There are many techniques that can be employed. I generally start by painting out the owner’s number using matt black, and adding numbering and marking transfers  in the appropriate position. (I use Modelmaster transfer sets 4623 and 4658 but other brands are available). When this is all dry I then make up a thin wash of matt grey and apply it to the outside of the whole wagon. You can spray, although I prefer to brush paint. The wash should be thin enough to allow the original lettering and new transferred number to show through. If necessary I wipe off the paint from the new numbers before it dries. I pick out the iron strapping and hinges in rust, using a dry brush technique sparingly so that it does not look too bold. When this is all dry I sometimes look for a plank on the side that might have been replaced and carefully paint it with a wood colour, varying from grey to buff depending upon how old I think the repair might be. Top planks were particularly vulnerable and would often get replaced. This should completely obliterate the whole of the original livery. The diagonal strap at the end of the side nearest to the end door should be picked out in matt white, again dry brush and careful not to overdo it. If your chosen model doesn’t have an end door this stripe should be omitted of course. Inside I usually paint the wagon matt black and add coal loads.

[HornbyinNC]

over the years, I have read many of your knowledgeable, as well as interesting insights into railway history.

This one is one of your best!  Thanks for sharing LC&DR.

Over the years I have weathered a few wagons, but not bothered trying to renumber them.  My collection has very few PO wagons, as it stands, but will likely give it a go now!

[LCDR]

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Those wagons which stayed at collieries in internal use finished up looking like this. From time to time especially when a colliery closed the better ones might be transfered to another colliery to replace bad ones there, and after inspection by BR they would be moved by train under special permission.  

 

Black was a common colour for wagons in internal use, as was a dark red, athough blue and green could be found occasionally, and some were left unpainted, seemingly at the whim of colliery management. The white stripe on a plank through the body was a common indicator of internal use, although the official BR symbol was a white St. Andrews cross on a black background. Sometimes the cross occupied the entire side of the wagon, or it appeared on a black panel on either the left or right bottom corner.

 

In the North East of England where NCB trains had running powers over BR track the NCB wagons carried a special symbol of a white three link coupling on its side with a date stencilled inside indicating when BR had inspected and approved the wagon to operate on their system. (see below)

 

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This wagon was bought from the NCB by myself and two friends and was given to the Tanfield Railway where it still operates in demonstration goods trains.

[LCDR]

Another group of privately owned wagons survived World War 2, although these tended to be highly specialised. The vehicles concerned had to be kept seperate because the goods they carried could not be carried in vehicles used for other materials either because they could contaminate them or vice versa. Also vehicles which required special handling arrangements to load or discharge. The largest group were tank wagons for oil, petroleum, chemicals and certain foodstuffs, and after the War these were released by the Ministry of War Transport and Petroleum Board back to the oil companies and the chemical manufacturers. BR did have a few tanks but most of these were for departrmental use such as creosote to sleeper depots and such like. 

 

The remainder were in remarkably small numbers, but included some large bogie hopper wagons for limestone, and some for iron-ore.

 

Milk was a special case. The underframes of the tank wagons were owned by the railway, but the tank was owned by the dairy.

 

However in the 1960s the attitude by the Government and British Rail changed towards Privately Owned wagons and many types were built to be used exclusively by private companies. Stone aggregate was one goods class which was commonly carried in privately owned hopper wagons from about 1964 onwards, and later all manner of material including grain, fertiliser, bricks, gypsum, china clay were being conveyed. 

[HornbyinNC]

Responses from LC&DR are very incitive.  I always welcome seeing his posts, often learning something new of value about prototype railways.

I personally live in USA, so not buying any prototype British wagons anytime soon.  Often wished I could find and purchase a redundant caboose; I'd turn it into a designated layout sited on my property.  The layout contained would remain British, though.  Once a Brit, always a Brit!

[LCDR]

Thank you. I have seen pictures of old Cabooses turned into all kinds of buildings after they had finished their railroad career. 

 

In the UK old railway carriages were often sold to people for use as holiday homes. And quite a few have subsequently been turned back into railway carriages again.  These are examples of this.

 

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