British Railways adopted pre-grouping practice in issuing 'diagrams' for each of their wagon designs. These were collated into loose-leaf books of which 'Book 1', which concerns us here, was dedicated to 'Revenue and Departmental' wagons. Each diagram within the book was given a number, thus diagram 1/026 refers to book 1, diagram 26. This notation is now widely understood but in fact was not adopted until the late 1960s.
Different diagrams were issued for nominally similar wagons with detail differences, and in some (but not all) cases new diagrams were issued for later conversions. In practice, many larger batches of wagon had numerous detail differences which went un-recorded, and in any case the diagrams do not really contain sufficient detail to enable the finer points of the design to be appreciated. Sadly, BR chose to follow LMS practice and so the diagrams reflect only those details needed by the commercial department; had GWR practice been followed we would have had a series of much more detailed and accurate drawings.
'Lot numbers' followed LMS practice and were allocated to specific wagon orders. The BR lot numbers started at 2001, and it was quite possible for a single lot to include wagons to more than one diagram, or for several lots to be built to the same diagram.
Details for the Palbrick family of wagons are listed below and are generally taken from the 'Bartlett et al' and 'Rowland' books listed on the acknowledgements page, with some minor amendments. The 'Rowland' list does, however, contain several mistakes; it also quotes different years for several of the lot numbers. Diagram numbers in bold are those I have copies of.
| Numbers | Qty. | Type | Diagram | Lot No. | Notes |
| B457602 - B460987 (with numerous gaps) | 298 | 13T Palwag | 1/019 as built. None allocated to rebuild? |
2236, 2351, 2352 & 2430, as built. | Built as steel sided 'Medfit' wagons, Ashford, 1950-55. Rebuilt as 'Palwag' mid-1950s, retaining original numbers. Some retained their original steel ends. |
| B461597 - B461608 | 12 | 16T Palbrick B | 1/021 | 3138 | Built Ashford 1957. RCH U/Frame. Plain bearings, spindle buffers, instanter couplings. |
| B461609 - B461616 | 8 | 13T Palbrick A | 1/020 | 2668 | Built Ashford 1957. RCH U/Frame. Plain bearings, spindle buffers, instanter couplings. |
| B461617 - B461996 | 380 | 13T Palbrick A | 1/023 | 3140 | Built Ashford 1957. RCH U/Frame. Plain bearings, spindle buffers, screw couplings. |
| B461997 - B462116 | 120 | 16T Palbrick B | 1/024 | 2724 (part) | Built Ashford 1957-8. RCH U/Frame. Plain bearings, spindle buffers, screw couplings. |
| B462117 - B462446 | 330 | 16T Palbrick B | 1/022 | 2724 (part) | Built Ashford 1957-8. RCH U/Frame. Plain bearings, spindle buffers, screw couplings. |
| B462447 - B462526 | 80 | 16T Palbrick B | 1/024 | 3141 | Built Ashford 1958. RCH U/Frame. Plain bearings, spindle buffers, screw couplings. |
| B462527 - B462686 | 160 | 16T Palbrick C | 1/025 | 3242 | Built Ashford 1959. BR Clasp U/Frame. Roller bearings, Oleo buffers, screw couplings. |
| B462707 - B462796 | 90 | 16T Palbrick B | 1/026 | 3243 | Built Ashford 1959. BR Clasp U/Frame. Roller bearings, Oleo buffers, screw couplings. |
| B462797 - B462846 | 50 | 16T Palbrick C | 1/025 | 3322 | Built Ashford 1960. BR Clasp U/Frame. Roller bearings, Oleo buffers, screw couplings. |
| B462847 - B463036 | 190 | 16T Palbrick C | 1/025 | 3365 | Built Ashford 1961. BR Clasp U/Frame. Roller bearings, Oleo buffers, screw couplings. |
| TOTAL: | 1420 | A: 388, B: 632, C: 400. |
This total excludes the 298 'Palwag' conversions. |
Lots 3432 and 3433 for 150 wagons were cancelled. By the late 1960s many Palbricks were out of use and several were converted for other uses.
Diagram 1/027 covers the conversion of 22 Palbrick Bs (with plain bearings, spindle buffers and screw couplings) into 'Shellcase' wagons. This conversion was carried out in 1967 and the wagons were used to carry ammunition cases to and from the Central Armamounts Depot at Longtown, near Carlisle. However, this traffic was short lived and by the early 1970s most of these were stored out of use in the Workington area.
Also in 1967, at least 55 Palbrick Bs from lot 3243 (with roller bearings) were converted into Freightliner match wagons to diagram 1/087. A handful of these have remained in use into the 21st century and so all of the surviving Palbricks are believed to come from this batch.
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In 1970, many Palbricks were converted to 16T 'Coil P' wagons for
carrying steel strip coils. This photograph of B462095 gives the
general idea; note that as well as the cradle, the conversion has
involved slicing vertically through the ends of the wagon body.
Diagrams 1/442 and 1/443 were allocated. Photo © P. Bartlett 16/11/76. Used with permission. Another 1970 variation was the 12T 'Coil Q' (diagram 1/452), while 1973 saw 30 vehicles (20 of them previously 'Coil P') converted to 'Coil V' (or possibly 'Coil Y') (no diagram issued), on which the coils were stacked 'eye to sky'. However, in 1975 the coil P, Q and V wagons started to donate their coil cradles to converted bogie wagons, so these ex-Palbrick wagons again fell out of use... |
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Between 1975 and 1978 394 16T mineral wagons built on redundant
Palbrick underframes, including 18 from the Shellcase conversions and
many of the Coil wagons. These were allocated diagram 1/194, lot number
3863, and were converted at Horwich with the wagons receiving new
numbers in the series B596000 to B596393. The photograph shows B596069
in 1978. B596329 is preserved on the GCR. Photo © P. Bartlett 17/09/78. Used with permission. |
This page is still under development. In the future I hope to add more photographs of Palbricks, and perhaps some more details on some of the 90 wagons of lot 3243.