GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Hockley Station: gwrhd705

Although this view is thought to have been taken in 1927 the most remarkable thing is that not one motor lorry is in sight. The horse-drawn wagon was the staple vehicle of the railway companies up to the beginning of the First World War but rapidly in the inter-war period motorised transport took its place. The onset of the Second World War and petrol rationing caused the horse-drawn vehicle to last at least another ten years longer than would otherwise be the case. Most of the wagons here appear to be of what was termed the ‘one horse trolley’ design. A Great Western Railway standard design drawing (No.59981) issued in September 1920 showed 3 foot 3 inch diameter cart wheels supported on leaf springs, with the 8 foot shafts and front axle articulated. Driver arrangements varied between areas; the Birmingham pattern had a box seat raised some 10 inches above the flat vehicle floor. A canvas hood was secured to the arched framework to give some weather protection. Two single horse vans are also visible. These have wooden sides extending approximately 2 foot above the vehicle floor and had fixed iron hoops supporting a canvas sheet roof. A standard two horse van designed in 1912 could carry 4 tons 10 cwt. A single horse was expected to haul up to 36 cwt at a speed of 6 m.p.h. and cover 20 miles in their day’s work.

Robert Ferris

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