Now I know that during the "big 4" period there was the common user pool into which the big 4 contributed a certain number of wagons. What I wondered was if there was such a thing running during the same time for PO coal wagons rather than them having to be returned to home turf as it were. Can anybody help me out here?
Thanks,
Twinklekev.
I understand that PO coal wagons were pooled when the railways came under government control at the start of the Second World War and remained so until the owners were compensated, at the time of Nationalisation I believe.
Best wishes.
John
To clarify what's implicit in John's reply, before the outbreak of war in 1939 private owner coal wagons were exactly that: privately owned & not pooled: they were for their owners' traffic only and ran empty back to a designated point when not carrying traffic. They were also, by definition, operationally confined to running only to and from the owners' factory/mine/quarry/supplier's premises/depot/customers. Some of these routes were thus very geographically restricted, others less so (e.g. a London coal merchant who sourced their coal from collieries in the midlands.)
Cheers, Richard
This may not be what you originally asked, but most model PO coal wagons portray them as they may have appeared prior to WW2.
When blackout regulations were introduced, diagonal white lines at the end-door end of the wagon started to be applied, together with vee markings on the bottom centre of the side doors if the wagon had bottom doors and also white handbrake levers.
During WW2 pooling, the lettering for newly built PO wagons was confined to the lower left sides of the wagon. If any side boards on older wagons were replaced which obscured or removed the number or owner's details, a black panel covering the bottom 2 or 3 left-hand planks was painted and the owner details and number hand painted on that.