GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Hockley Station: gwrhd2625

Great Western Railway single horse flat trolley being loaded with sacks for distribution at the end of the Inwards Shed and Warehouse in Hockley Goods Depot in 1921. The Great Western Railway had issued a standard design drawing (No 59981) for a standard one horse trolley design in September 1920. The drawing shows 3 foot 3 inch diameter twelve spoke ‘artillery type’ cart wheels supported on leaf springs, with the 8 foot shafts attached to the articulated front axle. Driver arrangements varied between areas; the Birmingham pattern had a box seat raised some 10 inches above the flat vehicle floor and there was no mechanical brake. A canvas hood was secured to an arched framework which could be repositioned to give some weather protection to the load. A single horse was expected to haul up to 36 cwt at a speed of 6 mph and cover 20 miles in their day's work.

Robert Ferris

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