BR wagon label clips and the labels

[Ken H]

Hi
Just remembered these clips and labels
What were these for, what was the data on them and were they always hand written or sometimes computer printed? When did they fall into disuse? or are they still used?
Were the clips a good design or did the labels fall out or did they trap fingers?
here are some pix

 

[Gloster]

They were handwritten and you were supposed to use a thick pencil. The information varied over the years, but included destinée, sender (many had this printed on or applied with a stamp), contents, weight and wagon number. Once TOPS came into use the TOPS number of the destination was prominent.

The clips seem to have been quite effective at retaining the labels and also, despite a good spring, fairly easy (and not dangerous to the fingers) to use. I found them easier than those pesky wire-covered ones on ferry vehicles.

Long ago there were numbertakers, many employed by the Railway Clearing House, all over the system reading them in all weathers and at all times of the day as it was the only way to find out where each wagon had to go every time there was a bit of remarshalling; this was also necessary pre-BR for charging purposes. I was still doing this in 1979, but by then it was mostly keeping a record of traffic in and out: I then passed the information on to the TOPS office who would then be able to send it out on the teleprinter. After that I had to write it all down in ledgers in case something had to be chased up. I think they disappeared once TOPS was fully operational, but that was after my time.

EDIT: underlined words added.

 

[Dr Hoo]

The clips were very strong and effective. At ‘branch line’ speeds you could (and I have) clip in despatch bags with ‘notices’ and even pay packets for wayside level crossing keepers by careful arrangement.

 

[Clarence Yard]

They were also used for wagon defect labels. “Green” and “Red” cards, of which there were several types, depending on the defect and the restriction applied.

You would also see these clips on brake coaches.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

"Block" trains of say coal from a pit to a power station only required one label (front and rear) , for the movement as opposed to single labels for mixed consists. Freightliner trains had similar "rules" per 5 set.

It was possible to order "special" labels for frequent forwardings , to save writing out blank labels , presumably ordered by an Area Manager (cannot remember now !) - at Felixstowe Flt , in order to cut down on writing out blanks , (when supplies ran out) - I got some stamps and an ink pad from a local stationers to help out as a "quality" initiatve which the staff thoroughly approved of. (e.g Trafford Park , or Coatbridge) etc

Always worth checking the consist of even a block train - a fellow trainee spotten a wagon of domestic coal in the middle of a load and got it shunted out. As the train was 99% coking coal for Llanwern , had the load been tipped into the coke ovens ,it would have probably ruined the whole batch - the odd wagon was luckily labelled - which caught his eye. no wonder he rose to a very high position in management with BR.

 

[Ken H]

Thanks for the replies. The ingenuity of rail staff to make this work is impressive.

 

[AndrewE]

Thanks for the replies. The ingenuity of rail staff to make this work is impressive.

actually I think it was a robust simple system that would probably still be in use now and over a century old if it hadn't been superceded by technology. It did depend on yard staff knowing which onward freight train the wagon had to be put on to for its next move towards its destination. I don't know whether there was any planning at all, or whether a station goods clerk just wrote on the label the destination the client asked for! (probably after checking that the destination existed in the Handbook of Stations and the craneage was adequate, or whatever.)

Aren't there stories (in fiction) of miscreants changing labels over to divert a wagon to where they could rob it?

 

[Gloster]

Aren't there stories (in fiction) of miscreants changing labels over to divert a wagon to where they could rob it?

Not just in fiction: there were real cases of wagons being illicitly relabelled to another destination. However, these tended to be low value items: I was told of one coal merchant who got caught removing the correct labels for other destinées and substituting an old one with a new date and wagon number on it that had him as a destinée. Any wagon containing items of value would be more difficult for thieves to find, divert and steal from except at the beginning and end of its journey, although no doubt it was done.

 

[Adrian Barr]

Long ago there were numbertakers, many employed by the Railway Clearing House, all over the system reading them in all weathers and at all times of the day as it was the only way to find out where each wagon had to go every time there was a bit of remarshalling; this was also necessary pre-BR for charging purposes.

There's a nice explanation of this in The L&NER Delivers the Goods: Volume 1

The availability and complexity of alternative routes was such that specific instructions on the routing were issued to enable the forwarding stations to insert on the invoices and waybills the routes by which the consignments were intended to travel. These were then entered onto an abstract sheet which was sent to the RCH and served as the basis for the division of receipts. For the guidance of outside staff, the route was also shown on the wagon label, attached to any other vehicle, or consignment. RCH regulations required that all wagons, apart from those containing minerals in train loads not involving marshalling yards during or on completion of a journey, must have a label affixed on each side, giving among any other particulars:

• Name of invoicing or sending station.
• Destination in full and initials of the railway on which it was situated.
• Route, naming all junctions with other companies lines …and when two or more companies had lines between the same destinations, the initials of the companies whose lines intended to be used.

The advantages of showing routing were:

• The operating staff, particularly those working in marshalling yards and at exchange points, were aided in the sorting and assembly of trains, and at junctions assured the appropriate transfer of wagons to different companies.
• The clearing house was provided with the data needed to credit the various railway companies over whose lines traffic had passed and thereby enable the proper proportion of receipts for use of their lines to be made to them.

…To achieve this, RCH employed numbertakers at seventy-five exchange junctions, later reduced to fifty-nine. These would record all the wagon stock and sheets passing from one companies line to another, and the headquarters office would then balance the exchange between companies...

A good example of routing on a wagon label can be seen in this blogpost by the Cornwall Railway Society. The wagon label (dating from 1949) is from Haverton Hill to Avonwick. The destination "Avonwick" is pencilled in, but the routing from Haverton Hill to the Western Region is pre-printed "Via Knottingley, Swinton, G.C. and Banbury."
http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/latest-input--news--old-pictures-etc/3rd-june-2019

The 3 on the label is explained in GWR Goods Train Working Volume 1 by Tony Atkins:

GWR categories of goods:

• Class 1: Coal & Coke
• Class 2: Other minerals
• Class 3: General Merchandise

Wagon destination labels were overprinted with the numbers 1, 2 or 3 corresponding to these classes of goods to enable the guard to estimate the weight of his train using the GW ready-reckoner...

***************

There's a selection of wagon labels here, unused but with pre-printed elements:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/railpics-online/albums/72157719110320797/

Pre-printed labels for Oxcroft colliery traffic: https://www.flickr.com/photos/railwaydave/23203069864/ (Photo: David Page)
Pre-printed labels for shipment traffic from Oxcroft: https://www.flickr.com/photos/railwaydave/23748700531/ (Photo: David Page)

This extract from Tinsley and the Modernisation of Sheffield's Railways (by Chris Booth and Alex Fisher) demonstrates that wagon labels were still important in 1965 when Tinsley Yard opened:

Once a train had arrived in the reception sidings, the process of humping it could begin. After uncoupling the loco, a "cutter" (shunter) would walk back along the train reading the wagon destination labels. Wagons for the same destination would remain coupled...

As cuts could consist of one or more wagons, so the cutter would uncouple wagons as necessary and make relevant notes for later transmission over the "Addo" machine.

The cutter entered his cut card information, beginning with the train headcode, reception siding number, date and time. This was followed in three columns by destination siding number …the number of wagons in the cut, and any special information...

The operation of the "Addo" machine can be seen in British Transport Films "Freight and a City." The information was transmitted to the hump control tower and enabled automatic route-setting (via punched tape) as wagons passed over the hump:

Vintage railway film - Freight and a city - 1966

This process of providing the hump control tower with train headcode, wagon numbers, destinations can be seen as a forerunner to TOPS. TOPS allowed for the transmission of this information from the previous yard, without having to manually note down the numbers when it arrived. When a freight train departed a yard or terminal, the TOPS office responsible for the destination (or next calling point) would get an automatic printout called a "detail consist" giving the details of wagons, destinations, commodities and so on. I think even before TOPS came in there was a telex system in use in some areas to provided details of incoming traffic.

For an example of wagon labels in the TOPS era, I'll jump across to the other thread on TOPS tagging and wagonload traffic:
https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...ral-principles-of-tagging.274701/post-7185093