LMS Route: Rugby to Leamington Spa (Avenue)
LMS Route: Nuneaton to Leamington
LMS Route: Leamington to Weedon
Leamington (Avenue) Station: lnwrlave1376a
Close up of image 'lnwrlave1376' showing a Private Owner
wagon carrying the name 'STEVCO' of Oxford alongside what is thought to be a
LMS four-plank wagon. Note the chalk marks on the side of the LMS wagon giving
information to the shunters as to where its destination. Wagons lettered
'STEVCO' started to appear in the 1930s with most were purchased second hand
from the Gloucester Wagon Company.
Stevens and Co. of Oxford were a substantial coal merchant
whose trading activities extended into neighbouring counties and as far north
as Warwick, Leamington and other Warwickshire towns The western outskirts of
London was also served.. Seventeen known photographs of their fleet are
featured in my "Private Owner Wagons, a Second Collection" The Arley, Exhall,
Griff and Baddesley Collieries were a regular source of supply, and their
wagons, lettered "Stevens & Co" or simply "Stevco" would have been a
regular sight passing through Coventry and Leamington.
The Gloucester RC&WCo. was an almost exclusive
supplier,, between 1890 and 1932 ninety-eight new wagons were supplied. Others
were hired as required. The basic colour was red, with the exception of wagons
built in 1906, of which no. 298 was painted green with white letters shaded red
and featured addresses "Oxford, Warwick, Reading and London" Four coke wagons
distributed coke from the gasworks at Oxford.
Keith Turton
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