Urgent freight Plymouth-Glasgow 1906

[6Gman]

In the summer of 1906 EH Bostock imported some unusual animals (Thylacine and Tasmanian Devil - so no bigger than a big dog) for his Scottish Zoo in Glasgow. They arrived in Plymouth and - I assume - then went by train.

Thoughts please on the following:

Would they have travelled as "premium parcels" on passenger-rated trains (i.e. boxed up in brake van/ parcels van) or by goods train? (I suspect the former)

In later years there were through carriages between Plymouth and Glasgow - were there in 1906? If so, I presume that's how they would have travelled - via Bristol, Hereford, Shrewsbury, Crewe and then the WCML?

 

[Gloster]

An alternative would be coastal shipping. Were the animals in the charge of a handler on the voyage to Plymouth?

 

[6Gman]

An alternative would be coastal shipping. Were the animals in the charge of a handler on the voyage to Plymouth?

I have no details beyond an arrival date in Plymouth and six days later a press item saying "they have been added to the collection" (in Glasgow).

My assumption would be that rail travel would have been quicker than coastal shipping.

 

[Gloster]

I have no details beyond an arrival date in Plymouth and six days later a press item saying "they have been added to the collection" (in Glasgow).

My assumption would be that rail travel would have been quicker than coastal shipping.

Yes, with that timescale shipping looks unlikely. I do think that a collection such as this would be accompanied, so probably not just dumped in any old parcels van.

 

[irish_rail]

In the early 1900s there where quite a few ships sailing between Plymouth and the likes of Dublin, Liverpool, And Scotland, so coastal shipping is an option I would suggest.

 

[Gloster]

A look at the November 1908 Bradshaw (p.966) on timetableworld has the Clyde Shipping Company’s Glasgow-Plymouth ships running twice a week and taking 42 hours. The ships leave Glasgow on Monday and Thursday, but it is not clear if these are also the departure days from Plymouth.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

The February 1906 Bradshaw has no through coach between Plymouth and Glasgow; the November 1908 Bradshaw has one through from Bristol to Glasgow only.

The best timings for an intending passenger in 1906 from Plymouth to Glasgow would be:-

Plymouth (NR) d 1550 Bristol (TM) a 1916 - d 1940 Crewe a 2335 - d 0102 Glasgow (C) a 0635.

The animals would need a chaperone I think!

 

[6Gman]

The February 1906 Bradshaw has no through coach between Plymouth and Glasgow; the November 1908 Bradshaw has one through from Bristol to Glasgow only.

The best timings for an intending passenger in 1906 from Plymouth to Glasgow would be:-

Plymouth (NR) d 1550 Bristol (TM) a 1916 - d 1940 Crewe a 2335 - d 0102 Glasgow (C) a 0635.

The animals would need a chaperone I think!

That's extremely helpful, thank you.

My current theory is that they would have booked a horse box/ prize cattle van which could have been shunted onto its connecting services at Bristol and Crewe. The animals would have been in their boxes throughout but would be accompanied by a "groom" - horseboxes had groom's accommodation. Total journey time a pretty impressive 15 hours!

I know of one case of a young elephant being transported in exactly that way [i.e. in a horse box] (I think Plymouth-London on a through train), though the journey ended with a live elephant and a dead groom. Never fully explained ...

 

[Gloster]

The GWR‘s first Beetle, prize cattle wagon with drover’s compartment, did not appear until 1907, but the LSWR started adding drover’s compartments to older cattle wagons in 1906. A horse box is more likely.

 

[randyrippley]

Surely if the move only involved the two animals it's more likely they were just treated as a couple of dogs, shipped in crates in the guards van of passenger trains maybe with an attendant in the van?
I'd also assume they would have used one of the connecting boat trains from Plymouth to London as the quickest route, changing stations in London.

Just imagine, with a bit of imagination we could have had the "Adventures of Paddington the Thylacine"