GWR China Clay

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	GWR 12 ton China Clay wagon, NCB293 GWR China Clay wagon NCB293 awaiting restoration on the Bank Top siding, Dilhorne Park, Sept 2006 This small wagon started life built by the Great Western Railway at Swindon as one of four batches totalling 500 vehicles in 1913-14, to diagram O13. GWR wagon construction was very advanced in the first quarter of the twentieth century when compared with many other main-line companies, in that all its new vehicles incorporated a riveted steel chassis at a time when most others used timber. They were expensive but built to last, and certainly this one did. It would have originally carried a number in the series 92601-93000 or 94000-100. Throughout its 35 year service on the GWR up to nationalisation it would have carried all-over dark grey livery with white letters and black wheels. Above: Official photograph of GWR 12 ton China Clay wagon as built at Swindon It was built as a special china clay version of the contemporary GWR 12 ton capacity open merchandise wagon, measuring 16' 0" long with the body constructed of five planks. GWR oil axleboxes and self-contained buffers were fitted, together with a sophisticated ratchet brake system developed by GWR CMEs William Dean and George Jackson Churchward. The official name was the "eitherside brake" and idea was that very short quadrant levers were twisted round, usually by an experienced shunter with the flick of his arm or a shunting pole, and a ratchet and pawl would engage to hold the brake on. Disengaging the spring loaded ratchet released the brake very quickly.A system of rods activatedfour brake shoes, one on each wheel. The main variations from the GWR open merchandise design of the time were as follows: The body planks were of equal width, whereas all other GWR wagons between about 1905 and 1948 were characterised by having one body plank slightly wider than the others. Hence the china clay design had a slightly lower body side than normal, possibly due to the relatively low volume of twelve tons of clay. More noticeable was the provision of an end door, hinged at the top on a round bar, in very similar style to a typical coal wagon. This was to enable the wagons to be used in end tipplers at the docks at Fowey, when china clay was being loaded for export. In connection with this, the floor was designed with the planks laid lengthwise rather than across the wagon, so that the clay slid out more easily. A steel strip under the door retained the planks, otherwise they slid out too. Some were fitted with sheet zinc floors to further help unloading the clay into ships, and also to avoid the clay being contaminated by dirt held in the wood. Side doors were provided as well, so that either clay could be unloaded by hand, or the wagon could carry china clay in wooden barrels, which was quite common at the time they were built. The wagons were based at Newton Abbot, near the source of the china clay, but some worked in block trains to Stoke-on-Trent, where so much of it was used in the Pottery industry. The braking system underwent major modification during the life of the wagon. The "eitherside brake" short quadrant levers were normally located at the extreme right hand end of the solebar on each side. On the china clay design this caused a problem, because on one side this coincided with the end door, and in service this lever would soon gum up with spilt clay. Therefore the system was modified so the quadrant arms were on a cross shaft at the non-door end of the wagon. This worked well, until it fell foul of new regulations enforced by the Ministry of Transport from 1939 that stated that wagons must have brake handles at the right end when facing the side. The new rules helped avoid accidents to shunters who from then on knew roughly where to find a brake handle on a moving wagon, but it meant a lot of expense in somehow modifying the brakes on 500 clay wagons. With the impending war the time or money could be ill afforded. Mainly during the war years about 50 wagons were altered to the Moreton two-shoe system at Swindon using new parts. The rest were altered at Newton Abbott wagon works to the traditional four-shoe double brake system, probably using secondhand or locally made new parts. All the evidence suggests that the wagon preserved at Foxfield was altered at Newton Abbot, and the homemade nature of the conversion is revealed by the crude wooden packing pieces to space the vee hangers away from the channel solebars. In British Railways days the livery changed to light grey with black underframe and patches for the numbers, usually liberally coated with white china clay all over. Some of the wagons began to be fitted with fixed sheet supporters to keep the weather off the clay in transit. This was the start of the familiar "clay hood" trains that were a common sight being unloaded north of Stoke station until replaced by slurry tanks in the 1980s. However the actual GWR wagons did not last that long. They were all replaced in the 1950s by a fleet of almost identical BR wagons, which latterly sported distinctive blue nylon "hoods" and were the last traditional wooden wagons in regular use on BR. The vast majority of the china clay wagons withdrawn from Newton Abbott in the fifties went not for scrap, but for re-use by collieries, port authorities and other internal railway systems around the UK. The steel frame, end door and their generally good condition made them very saleable. The South Staffordshire Wagon Co bought large numbers and these were probably refurbished for sale to several collieries in the Midlands for moving and storing landsale coal. Our wagon went to Birch Coppice Colliery, Warwickshire with several others, where all evidence of its previous ownership was removed, and it was renumbered NCB 293. Black livery with a huge white cross, so typical of NCB wooden wagons, was applied andthe instruction "Internal Use Only" painted on each side door. The floor was also replanked crosswise at some point. Along with two others it survived long enough to be purchased for the Battlefield Line Railway at Shackerstone station in 1983. It moved to Foxfield in the company of RSH 0-6-0ST "Meaford No2" and an LNER loco coal wagon in 1996. This small humble wagon has two claims on an important place in the Foxfield collection: first its links with the supply of china clay to the ceramics industries of the Potteries, and second its survival as a genuine colliery railway internal use wagon. It has received some attention to restore the frame and wheels, and awaits re-planking of the body plus a new steel plate floor. No evidence of its GWR number has come to light, but in any case it will be restored in NCB livery as number 293. Two other examples of this design are still at the Battlefield Line Railway, one having been much modified into a tool wagon. Other GWR china clay wagons are preserved at Keighley & Worth Valley, Dean Forest, Severn Valley, Swindon & Cricklade Railways and at Didcot Railway Centre. Below: GWR diagram O13showing 12 ton China Clay wagon with original "eitherside brake"

GWR China Clay wagon NCB293 awaiting restoration on the Bank Top siding, Dilhorne Park, Sept 2006

This small wagon started life built by the Great Western Railway at Swindon as one of four batches totalling 500 vehicles in 1913-14, to diagram O13. GWR wagon construction was very advanced in the first quarter of the twentieth century when compared with many other main-line companies, in that all its new vehicles incorporated a riveted steel chassis at a time when most others used timber. They were expensive but built to last, and certainly this one did. It would have originally carried a number in the series 92601-93000 or 94000-100. Throughout its 35 year service on the GWR up to nationalisation it would have carried all-over dark grey livery with white letters and black wheels.

It was built as a special china clay version of the contemporary GWR 12 ton capacity open merchandise wagon, measuring 16' 0" long with the body constructed of five planks. GWR oil axleboxes and self-contained buffers were fitted, together with a sophisticated ratchet brake system developed by GWR CMEs William Dean and George Jackson Churchward. The official name was the "eitherside brake" and idea was that very short quadrant levers were twisted round, usually by an experienced shunter with the flick of his arm or a shunting pole, and a ratchet and pawl would engage to hold the brake on. Disengaging the spring loaded ratchet released the brake very quickly.A system of rods activatedfour brake shoes, one on each wheel.

The main variations from the GWR open merchandise design of the time were as follows:

The braking system underwent major modification during the life of the wagon. The "eitherside brake" short quadrant levers were normally located at the extreme right hand end of the solebar on each side. On the china clay design this caused a problem, because on one side this coincided with the end door, and in service this lever would soon gum up with spilt clay. Therefore the system was modified so the quadrant arms were on a cross shaft at the non-door end of the wagon. This worked well, until it fell foul of new regulations enforced by the Ministry of Transport from 1939 that stated that wagons must have brake handles at the right end when facing the side. The new rules helped avoid accidents to shunters who from then on knew roughly where to find a brake handle on a moving wagon, but it meant a lot of expense in somehow modifying the brakes on 500 clay wagons. With the impending war the time or money could be ill afforded. Mainly during the war years about 50 wagons were altered to the Moreton two-shoe system at Swindon using new parts. The rest were altered at Newton Abbott wagon works to the traditional four-shoe double brake system, probably using secondhand or locally made new parts. All the evidence suggests that the wagon preserved at Foxfield was altered at Newton Abbot, and the homemade nature of the conversion is revealed by the crude wooden packing pieces to space the vee hangers away from the channel solebars.

In British Railways days the livery changed to light grey with black underframe and patches for the numbers, usually liberally coated with white china clay all over. Some of the wagons began to be fitted with fixed sheet supporters to keep the weather off the clay in transit. This was the start of the familiar "clay hood" trains that were a common sight being unloaded north of Stoke station until replaced by slurry tanks in the 1980s. However the actual GWR wagons did not last that long. They were all replaced in the 1950s by a fleet of almost identical BR wagons, which latterly sported distinctive blue nylon "hoods" and were the last traditional wooden wagons in regular use on BR.

The vast majority of the china clay wagons withdrawn from Newton Abbott in the fifties went not for scrap, but for re-use by collieries, port authorities and other internal railway systems around the UK. The steel frame, end door and their generally good condition made them very saleable. The South Staffordshire Wagon Co bought large numbers and these were probably refurbished for sale to several collieries in the Midlands for moving and storing landsale coal. Our wagon went to Birch Coppice Colliery, Warwickshire with several others, where all evidence of its previous ownership was removed, and it was renumbered NCB 293. Black livery with a huge white cross, so typical of NCB wooden wagons, was applied andthe instruction "Internal Use Only" painted on each side door. The floor was also replanked crosswise at some point. Along with two others it survived long enough to be purchased for the Battlefield Line Railway at Shackerstone station in 1983. It moved to Foxfield in the company of RSH 0-6-0ST "Meaford No2" and an LNER loco coal wagon in 1996. This small humble wagon has two claims on an important place in the Foxfield collection: first its links with the supply of china clay to the ceramics industries of the Potteries, and second its survival as a genuine colliery railway internal use wagon. It has received some attention to restore the frame and wheels, and awaits re-planking of the body plus a new steel plate floor. No evidence of its GWR number has come to light, but in any case it will be restored in NCB livery as number 293.

Below: GWR diagram O13showing 12 ton China Clay wagon with original "eitherside brake"

GWR 12 ton China Clay wagon, NCB293