GWR Route: Moreton-in-Marsh to Shipston-on-Stour

Moreton-in-Marsh Station: gwrmm3058a

Close up of image 'gwrmm3058' showing the main station building with only a short canopy protecting the entrance to the booking hall. The shunting horse on the right is facing the gates to the cattle dock. The horse and drayman would be used to shunt railway wagons around Moreton-in-Marsh's sidings. Shunting horses were an economical way of moving railway wagons and were found all over the railway network up to and including the Second World War. The attire of draymen was common across all railway companies as can be seen in this example of LNWR draymen in Coventry 'lnwrcov2798'. According to Wikipedia, a drayman was historically the driver of a dray, a low, flat-bed wagon without sides, pulled generally by horses or mules that were used for transport of all kinds of goods, although it is a term often used to describe any person who was in charge of cart horses.

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