Acquired Wagons of British Railways Volume 4

British Railways was created in 1948 when the Great Western, the London, Midland & Scottish, the London & North Eastern and the Southern were taken into public ownership. It inherited all their locomotives, passenger and goods rolling stock. 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 latest volume in the series tackles one of the biggest categories of wagons inherited by British Railways on its formation. This encompasses the various types of fully-enclosed vans, both those used for general traffic and for vehicles allocated to specific types of traffic. Also included in this volume are those vehicles used for the beginnings of container traffic, both the special wagons constructed for this and their demountable containers.Two other significant types of wagons are covered in this volume. These are the early fully-enclosed hopper wagons and cattle wagons. The latter had something of a renaissance in the post-WW2 period and continued to be built well into the BR era, with the carriage of livestock not being finally abandoned on the network until 1972.Related TitlesThe Acquired Wagons of British Railways Vol. 19780860936824 £25.00The Acquired Wagons of British Railways Vol. 29780860936947 £25.00The Acquired Wagons of British Railways Vol. 39781910809693 £25.00

David Larkin has delivered his latest work on the acquired wagons of British Railways with Volume Four focused on general merchandise vans and containers, special purpose vans and cattle wagons.As with previous volumes, the book opens with an overview to the content and then considers the diverse fleet that made up British Railways' collection of general merchandise box vans. Subsequent chapters look at standard general merchandise vans of London and North Eastern Railway, London, Midland & Scottish Railway, Southern Railway and Great Western Railway origins, followed by long wheelbase examples. Specialist wagons are also covered including shock absorbing vans, container flats (Conflats), containers, tanks, fruit vans, banana vans, fish and meat vans.Gunpowder vans also feature in this volume, as do grain wagons, bulk powder wagons, beer vans and cattle wagons - with regional variants outlined throughout, where appropriate. Number sequences applied are also included, which will be particularly useful for modellers looking to customise their fleets.Each section features brief but informative text outlining the various vehicle types and specific highlights, accompanied by black-and-white photographs to illustrate the book throughout with informative captions covering vehicle types, location and relevant dates.The fine detail of wagons and their operation is easily overlooked. This book helps to set that right and is ideal for adding to the modelling library. -- Mark Chivers Hornby Magazine
This next volume in the series by David Larkin covers one of the biggest categories of wagons inherited by BR in 1948.General merchandise vans and fruit vans were built in large numbers by the former Big Four companies many of which were converted to other uses. Almost all were scrapped by the early 1970s.Another very useful book for modellers creating the wagons of the era. -- Geoffrey Charters Swanage Railway Magazine
Each chapter begins with a summary of pre-Grouping stock before a diagram-by-diagram review of Big Four designs with complete or sample lists of numbers. Even more generously illustrated than its predecessors, this is very much a work for the modeller or dedicated wagon enthusiast. -- Matthew Searle Railway and Canal Historical Society
The book is well researched and contains many high-quality photographs with well written captions.This book will be of special relevance to modellers of the early BR era and to those with a general interest in freight traffic. -- CA, member of The Rail Correspondence and Travel Society The Railway Observer, Volume 92

David Larkin is a retired railwayman of over 60 years' service, chiefly as a signalman. He commenced photographing wagons in 1968 and ceased in 1992, having amassed a collection of over 17,500 black & white negatives. He has backed up this collection with research into official records, both within B.R. and the N.R.M. at York, and has supplemented his own collection with black & white prints from other sources.

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