LMS Route: Rugby to Wolverhampton
LMS Route: Nuneaton to Leamington

Coventry Station: lnwrcov3728b

Close up of image 'lnwrcov3728' showing the cattle docks, a Van and two cattle trucks one of which is open top having no roof. Whilst the yard's general fencing appears to have been in place for some years, the fencing to the cattle dock appears to be either new of freshly painted. There appears to be a small gap between the cattle dock and the platform running parallel to the cattle dock's access road. Mike Williams of the LNWR Society writes, 'from left to right: Diagram 1 - a single plank open wagon; Diagram 32 - a 7-ton van with roof door. I think both are medium cattle wagons/vans and seem to have a horizontal frame member just up from the bottom of the side, which probably means there are vertical iron bars beneath it rather than a horizontal plank'. Philip Millard, also a member of the LNWR Society, adds 'this would seem to be the only known photo showing an open topped cattle wagon. An LNWR Minute of December 1877 ordered that all new cattle trucks to be covered over and have boarded up ends. Presumably existing cattle wagons remained unaltered. Another Minute of October 1879 ordered that all cattle wagons to be supplied with screw couplings. A Minute of April 1880 ordered that covered cattle wagons which are open at the ends should be boarded up to the roof'.

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