The LNER Encyclopedia

I'm sorry if this may have come up before (l did look but couldnt find it !) but l am find out what freight wagons would have been used by LNER during the period 1930 - 1950 around the Spalding area for a model project, could it have been any from the closer of the constituent companies ?

You may of guessed l am new to this ! so l would welcome any information.

Thank You.

Hello. Quite a complicated subject but here are some guidelines. At Spalding, one would most likely see LNER wagons but almost as many from the LMS, because there were so many connections between the two companies throughout the region. There would be a few from the GWR, and SR wagons would be rare but not unheard of. Private owner coal wagons from South Yorkshire coalfields would be very much in evidence but it is unlikely that there would be any from Wales or Scotland. Brake vans seldom strayed very far from their native system. In pre-grouping days, Spalding was served by 3 railways: the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint, the M&GN, and the Midland, which had goods facilities there via the M&GN. Brakevans which had been designed by the 4 companies involved would show up at Spalding, as well as standard vehicles designed by the LNER and LMS. Hope this helps and good luck with your project. Edited on 16 July, 2008

John

gresleybear wrote:Hello. Quite a complicated subject but here are some guidelines. At Spalding, one would most likely see LNER wagons but almost as many from the LMS, because there were so many connections between the two companies throughout the region. There would be a few from the GWR, but SR wagons would be rare. Private owner coal wagons from South Yorkshire coalfields would be very much in evidence but it is unlikely that there would be any from Wales or Scotland. Brake vans seldom strayed very far from the native system. Spalding was served by 4 pre-grouping railways: the Great Northern, the Great Eastern, the M&GN, and the Midland, which had facilities there via the M&GN. Brakevans from these companies would show up at Spalding, as well as standard vehicles from the LNER and LMS. Hope this helps and good luck with your project.

John

This is not correct. By 1930 all opens, vans and cattle wagons were common user, so there was no discrimination as to which wagons were used for particular freights. Brake vans would have been LNER owned, it was very unusual for brake vans to work over other company' metals unless there were running rights. AFAIK the LMS did not have running rights to Spalding.

Try and find photos of the yards around Spalding about the time you want to model. This will give you a good idea of what stock was in use at the time.

Yes, a huge subject. The main flows of traffic through Spalding would have been via the GN & GE Joint Line ('The Joint') into and out of Whitemoor, near March, with trains of loaded coal wagons coming south from the Yorkshire coalfields, and empties heading back north, up until 1939 most being private owner wagons although the LNER would had their own wagons for conveying loco coal and what have you. Apart from that, a few fully fitted freights over the joint line (just a few as there weren't that many vacuum braked vehicles in the 1930s), conveying, say, vans of fruit in season, imported bacon and butter from Parkeston for the north of England, merchandise from London and so on. Then there would have been general agricultural traffic originating in E Anglia, for example open highs of ware potatoes from Lincs. to the potato market at Kings X Goods, carrots, etc. How about highs loaded with timber imports into Boston Docks? - and whatever you do, don't forget the empty wagons needed to make it all happen! Good luck

Have a rummage round ebay and look for wagon labels. Look at the origination and destination, see if it passed through your patch, make a note of the wagon number, research the number to find out what it was and hey presto! simple.