Miscellaneous

Birmingham Small Arms (BSA) and Singer Motors: misc_bsa&singer181

Covered carriage truck (telegraphic code PYTHON) No 580 of lot 1238 seen here when built in 1914. These four wheeled covered carriage trucks had an internal length of 27 feet ½ inches, thought sufficient for two motor cars. They made full use of the gauge clearance having an internal clear width of 7 feet 10 inches and had full width doors at each end to allow cars to be driven on. The framing was internal with vertical planking. Sixty of these carriage trucks had been built prior to 1933 in four lots and details are given in the table below. The Vacuum and Westinghouse dual braking allowed these to run in passenger trains on other company's railways.

Lot No	Year	Diagram	Overall Length	Wheelbase	Brakes	Quantity	Running Numbers
L1106	1905	P13	31 foot	18 foot	Vacuum	Ten	521 – 530
L1134	1907	P14	31 foot	19 foot	Vacuum	Ten	531 – 540
L1197	1912	P14	31 foot	19 foot	Vacuum and Westinghouse	Twenty	541 – 560
L1238	1914	P19	31 foot	18 foot	Vacuum and Westinghouse	Nineteen	561 - 579
L1238	1914	P20 Strengthened	31 foot	18 foot	Vacuum and Westinghouse	One	580
L1650	post 1940	P22	32 foot	20 foot	Vacuum and Wstinghouse	Six	1 - 6

The earlier diagram P13 and P14 covered carriage trucks can be identified because their windows were the same width, but square. In the train at the Singer Motor Works (see misc_bsa&singer178) the first three are these earlier trucks while the fourth and fifth are diagram P19 trucks.

Although No 580 appeared to be identical to the other covered carriage trucks, it differed by being specially strengthened to make it suitable to carry elephants. This was because in addition to carrying motor cars, these covered carriage trucks were also used to carry Theatre scenery and the equipment and livestock associated with Travelling Circuses and Fairs. For instructions for the movement of Bertram Mill's Circus from Walsall to Leamington Spa in 1954, see here.

Robert Ferris

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