LMS-related cattle traffic.
New additions placed here temporarily.
At an unknown location on the Midland four-track, ex-MR Deeley 3F No 3792 has a Class C Through Freight. Included is what looks like a raft of 10 empty cattle wagons of pre-Grouping LMS designs, ex-MR and ex-LNWR, probably being taken to a cattle market. The photo is undated but I would say that it's c1925-30 because only faint traces of the limewash remain on the lowest timbers several yeas after its replacement with phenol solution.
Note how few covered vans can be seen - at the time they only numbered some 10% of the company owned fleets - and the many open wagons which have been sheeted. Very few modellers grasp these points because, I think, we're all used to seeing goods trains in BR days! Photo: W.L.Good 2872.
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MR Kirtley 3F No 2773 has a six-wagon cattle train in 1921 near Wigston, mostly ex-MR designs. Use of limewash is heavy and the wagon livery, possibly in accordance, is quite pale. Photo: Real Photos.
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Ex-MR 3F No 3418 at an unknown location with a Class C goods train. Use of limewash has been abolished and the four cattle wagons at the head are: LMS, LMS, SR, LMS. The former are ex-MR designs. Photo: Author's collection.
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An early LMS cattle wagon, manually braked on grease axleboxes. At an unknown location carrying letters that I cannot make out: NxST? Photo: Author's collection.
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Photographed in 1951 is an ex-LMS cattle wagon to Dia.1840, No 243505. Fitted with AVB and branded XP, it is still carrying smaller LMS lettering of the late 1930s but also visible is the previous larger style. Note the mismatching axleboxes. Photo: Author's collection.
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A later LMS design
Ex-LNWR G2 No 9327 with a Class B through freight at an unknown location. Leading are two LMS cattle wagons, ex-LNWR and ex-MR. Photo: Real Photos.
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An unnamed ex-LNWR "Claughton" No 5955 on the ex-MR four-track main line at Elstree in the early to mid-1930s has a train comprising almost entirely cattle trucks. I suspect that this is a northbound working of abattoir empties out of London and most of the trucks are LMS-design, but among them are several of ex-MR, ex-LNWR, ex-NER and SR origin. The second truck, ex-LNWR, was widespread, see next picture for a portrait. Photo: Real Photographs.
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My apologies for the quality for despite my attempt to improve it, this copy of an LNWR official is not great. However, it does show an LNWR Large cattle truck with manual brake and, at least as yet, no through pipe. A numerous type that became common user after the Great War and can be seen in many train photographs. Photo: K. Taylor collection.
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The Dornoch Branch on the former Highland Railway is well known for the operation of mixed trains and in this view from 1936, ex-HR 0-4-4T No 15053 is at The Mound with a fine example. Behind the (ex-MR?) 6w passenger brake van is an ex-HR lavatory composite.
The goods part of the train contains five cattle trucks:
- LMS - LNER ex-GER - LNER ex-GER - LMS ex-MR - SR ex-LSWR
They would appear to have come from afar, but if manually braked, they'd have been in the common user pool and thus capable of serving anywhere. They could have come from somewhere quite close. Photo: Author's collection.
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Ex-LNWR King George V class 4-4-0 No 5326 W.C.Brocklehurst is seen c1937 near Watford with a Down Class A goods train. Much of the front end of the train comprises vans and container trucks and, behind the tender, a single ex-MR/LMS cattle wagon. It would have been vacuum braked or through piped. Photo: Author's collection.
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I've shown this picture in the Milk section and it's here this time because an LMS cattle wagon has been added to the front of the train. As in the picture above, it would have been vacuum braked or fitted with a through pipe. Photo: author's collection.
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Ex-LNWR "Prince of Wales" 4-6-0 No 25685 Persia has a cross-country Ordinary Passenger on the ex-LNWR Bletchley-Cambridge branch, possibly near near Potton a few miles east of Sandy. It's made up tidily with three non-gangwayed ex-LNWR carriages, possibly:
BT |
3rd brake |
C |
1st/3rd |
BT |
3rd brake |
In front of them is an LMS 42' bogie CCT and three cattle wagons, all LMS. Photo: Real Photographs.
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You can argue how relevant this is but I got curious and checked the fuzzy loco's number and name - and concluded that it was actually 25683 Falaba which according the Maritime Museum in Liverpool:
"Falaba - a passenger ship of Liverpool’s Elder Dempster Line. She left Liverpool on 27 March 1915 and sighted the German submarine U-28 off the southern coast of Ireland the following day. U-28 surfaced, sent two warnings and Falaba’s crew were ordered to abandon ship. As the final lifeboat was being lowered, a torpedo hit. The ship sank in under 10 minutes. Germany claimed that U-28 had allowed 23 minutes for evacuation. Britain said it was only 5 minutes. 104 people died, including Leon Thrasher – the first US citizen to be killed the by actions of a U-boat".
There are more detailed accounts. It was an interesting choice by the LNWR, which also commemorated the much better known sinking (the previous month) of the No 25673 Lusitania. Both locos were built and named a year after the sinkings while the Great War was raging.
A scene from 1945 at Lancaster as "Jubilee" No 5600 Bermuda passes with a loaded cattle special. This may have been a train between a cattle market and an abattoir. Most of the cattle wagons are LMS but the leading one is LNER on a 10ft WB and slight distortion is already visible. Photo: E.R.Morten.
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It's 1948, the first year after Nationalisation, and un-named Patriot No 5509 has a Down express goods train at Berkhampstead. This view is also under "LNER cattle wagons" where the train and its wagons are analysed in detail. 9th October 1948. Photo: H.C. Casserley.
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Ex-LNWR G2 0-8-0 No 48927 (BLE) climbs through Cropredy station on the ex-GWR line between Banbury and Birmingham with a single LMS cattle wagon. Class F lights are being carried for an unfitted express freight/livestock train, possibly a special working. Photo: author's collection.
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Cattle traffic (general developments, other Big Four and BR) is here.
