Post-war wagon pooling

[Stuart FirthParticipant]

Can anyone tell me what the post-war arrangements were for non-common user wagons such as banana vans? Presumably they were used for general traffic during the war but what happened in the few years afterwards (I have a nice Southern banana van kit and would like to use it on my dock layout set in the North-West, but would it have been ‘Return to Southampton Docks when empty’ by 1947?)

[Philip MillerParticipant]

Dear Stuart ,

Banana Vans by definition were on restricted routeings like milk tanks , therefore even though they may be waybilled to say Birmingham , they would still have to be returned to a particular port such as Bristol or Southampton as that was where the cargo originated , and the wagons allocated at such ports would suffice for the traffic on offer.

Banana vans were steam heated , so even in wartime would most likely be restricted to food imports and not used for general traffic.

As Banana boats were specifically configured for bananas , regular loadings would be known in advance , so presumably a suitable number of wagons were allocated to accommodate that.

These days 70% of bananas for Britain come in via Portsmouth and are distributed by semi trailers.

As a generalization specialist non pool wagons were equipped for their specific traffic, and not suitable for general use , hence the reason for being non pool . Non pool wagons have always been allocated for specific services , hence specfic route brandings on some vehicles , and if private owner , being non pool would have a return destination either painted on the wagon or a special waybill with a specific return destination printed thereon.

Hope this helps,

Regards, Philip

[Stuart FirthParticipant]

Thanks Philip – looks like I’ll have to swap it for an LMS one!

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