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PRIVATE OWNER WAGON KITS
Our P.O. kits represent wagons used during the period 1898-1948, when privately owned stock amounted to around 500,000 wagons - about half the total of all the wagons registered during the inter-war period.
Our kits cover the body styles of a number of builders – Gloucester, Hurst Nelson and Wheeler & Gregory. However, the underframe is either RCH 1923 16' 6", or Gloucester 15'/16' type
Many wagons would have had brakes on one side only, until about 1924 (wagons with Gloucester type solebars), when a second set had to be fitted.
Alan Gibson or Romford wheels are recommended. Avoid "RTR" types such as Hornby or Bachmann as these may be larger than the kit is designed for – fitting couplings could be difficult; the axle length may also be shorter.
Some owners ran or leased thousands of wagons e.g. Rickett(s), & Cory; while small coal merchants might own as little as one wagon, although they sometimes concealled this by numbering their wagons from 100 etc. New wagons might be given the next number in sequence although earlier wagons might have been scrapped, giving the impression of a large fleet.
Large collieries & factors' wagons would run to areas far from the home base e.g. Ocean and GLM (seen in Devon & Sussex). Welsh steam coal was sent all over the country for ships' bunkering. Local coal merchants' wagons would only be found in their 'home' goods yard or en route to, or from a colliery. Sometimes they might also be sent to a wagon works for repairs. The exception to this was during World War II when all P.O. wagons were requistioned by the Government and pooled. This led to PO wagons being dispersed over time. They were also used for purposes for which they weren't suited – a photo (1941) shows a mixture of PO wagons being used to collect sleepers from the Van branch in mid-Wales. Getting sleepers in through the door of a coal wagon must have been a difficult task.
Following Nationalisation in 1948, PO wagons were renumbered in a "P" prefixed series and painted (if they were lucky) in Unfitted-stock Grey. There was a massive building programme of 16ton steel mineral wagons in the 1950s which made the PO wagons redundant. Some lingered on in engineers' use, and also the National Coal Board (NCB) had many as internal users. Some of the latter lasted until the 1980s, although they may rarely have moved from NCB sidings such as "Landsale Yards" e.g. near Ammanford in South Wales.
C30 10ton 7-plank Fixed End Wagon Kit (15' Glos. 1907 type)
Inside strapping. Small coal merchants liked these.
(Of course we mean the size of their business, not how tall they were)
C32 12ton 5-plank Fixed End Wagon Kit (16' 6" RCH 1923 type)
Gloucester RCW type with strap across top plank of doors & "planked" floor.
C36 12ton 7-plank End Door Wagon Kit (16' Glos. 1907 type)
Outside strapping. Full height end door (inside hinge bar)
C44 10ton 5-plank Fixed End Wagon Kit (15' Glos. 1907 type)
Inside strapping. Includes choice of flat or raised ends. (Flat end type shown)
C49 10ton 6½-plank Fixed End Wagon Kit (15' Glos. 1907 type)
The prototype wagons had a lifting section over the doors.
This may mean that the wagons sometimes carried merchandise other than coal, such as bagged fertiliser.
C51 12ton 5-plank Fixed End Wagon Kit (16' Glos. 1907 type)
Includes choice of flat or raised ends. (Flat end type shown)
C52 10ton 5-plank Fixed End Wagon Kit (15' Hurst Nelson type)
Outside strapping. Includes choice of flat or rounded ends. (Rounded end type shown)
Although Hurst Nelson’s works were in Motherwell, their salesmen reached right to the south coast of England,
as afterwards did their wagons (persuasive chaps, it seems).
C53 10ton 4-plank Fixed End Wagon Kit (15' "Wheeler & Gregory")
Low rounded ends. Somerset Coalfield type.
Wheeler & Gregory’s works were in Radstock adjacent to the Somerset and Dorset line.
See also below: C74 4 plank with 3plank door & raised ends.
Photo of W & G Works (1) ◊ Photo of W & G Works (2) ◊ Timber Yard, Radstock
C60 10ton 1-plank Fixed End Wagon Kit (15' Glos. 1907 type)
Low sided wagon for stone blocks. Single "eleven-inch" plank body.
C61 12ton 5-plank End Door Wagon Kit (16' 6" RCH 1923 type)
Used for china clay or roadstone. Longitudinal "planked" floor – this avoided material collecting in the plank gaps.
C62 10ton 6½-plank Wagon Kit (16' Glos. 1907 type)
The prototype wagons had a lifting section over the doors.
C63 7-plank "Convertible" Coke Wagon Kit (16' 6" RCH 1923 type)
Includes 2 plank Coke Raves and fixing bolt detail on the wagon body. "Bottom door" floor.
The coke raves or rails could be removed for loading coal (otherwise the wagon could be overloaded).
Some wagons had two "Tare" weights marked for with and without the rails.
C74 4-plank Fixed End Wagon Kit (15' 0" "Wheeler & Gregory")
4 plank with 3 plank door & low raised ends. Somerset Coalfield type.
Wheeler & Gregory’s works were in Radstock adjacent to the Somerset and Dorset line.
John Snow of Glastonbury and Bristol had wagons of this type.
C75 8-plank Acid Jar Wagon Kit (16' 6" RCH 1923 type)
This wagon, operated by "Chance & Hunt", had 8 jars fixed inside with the lids protruding through a planked "roof" set just below the top of the sides.
It is unknown how the acid was removed from the jars – presumably syphoned out using rubber tubing, but not started by sucking on the end of the pipe (not more than once, anyway).
By coincidence, the parent company of our current polystyrene supplier is Chance & Hunt.
Transfers for this kit are available from POWsides, reference no.122