Petroleum Rail Tank Wagons of Britain, by R. Tourret
Book published by Tourret in 2009, 304 pages. Large A4 size hardback - c.21cm by 30cm (N5689)
From the foreword: This book deals with the history and design of rail tank wagons used for carrying petroleum and allied products such as bitumen and shale oil, in England, Scotland and Wales, from its beginnings in the late 1870s to the present day. Since the first edition was published in 1980, much further information has come to hand regarding pre-1980 matters, while since 1980 much more has happened. Thus the book is considerably enlarged. The amount of petroleum products moved by rail since 1980 has gradually decreased for three main reasons, first the decrease in fuel oil used in power stations, second the increased use of pipelines for major flows of product and third the increased use of road transport for final delivery. This means in turn that there have been few major developments in design since the 1980s, and that many petroleum tank wagons have been scrapped or rebuilt for other traffics, both within the petroleum industry and outside it.
The book starts with a general introductory chapter covering types of product carried, refinery location, livery and design considerations. This is followed by a chapter dealing with the general history which covers the design trends over the years. Finally comes a long chapter dealing with the activities of individual companies, in alphabetical order.
In the course ofthe 130 years or so covered by this book, many firms sprang up and then died, or were renamed or merged
with others. Some mention is made ofthis, especially when it concerns wagon liveries, but complete coverage of this aspect is
well beyond the scope ofthis book It should be noted that tank wagons are referred to by both payload and gross loaded weight. In the early days, wagons were commonly referred to by their payload, but around the time when fitted wagons became normal, the habit became to use gross loaded weight (GL W). Thus the modem 45-ton GLW vehicle normally has a payload of around 31 tons. To avoid giving a false idea of precision, imperial weights are rounded off to the nearest cwt and measurements to the nearest 14 inch. For a group of vehicles, the weights will be average or typical. Imperial tons are written as 'tons' and 'cwt' and metric tonnes as 'tonnes', Units are given as stated at the time, and no conversion has been attempted. Wheel diameters are normally a nominal 3ft 1 in or 3ft 2in when new. Buffer heights are generally between 3ft 5% in and 3ft 6%in and buffer centres between 5ft 7~in and 5ft 8~ in. To save endless repetition, these are not given individually.
Many photographs used in this book are works record photographs, the date (and hence the livery) corresponding to the date of construction. Where wagons have been photographed in service, the date has been given, if known, in order to date the detail changes during the life of a wagon, especially livery changes which were generally numerous.
The condition of the book is generally very good. The cover has one or two very minor scuffs but is clean and bright, the spine is tight and intact, and all pages are clean, intact, unblemished and tightly bound.
| Condition | New |