Although the Great Eastern Railway built dedicated loco coal wagons to eight diagrams, only three are applicable to Basilica Fields. This and the following two posts will deal with the three types which will appear on the layout.
Some companies, such as the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway and the North London Railway, among others, were happy to outsource delivery of loco coal to a subcontractor (Stephenson Clarke in both cases), but the Great Eastern preferred to supply its own wagons for this duty. It is therefore rather surprising that the company didn’t build its first batch of dedicated loco coal wagons until 1891. As mentioned in earlier instalments of this series, general merchandise wagons had previously been commandeered by the loco department, and it was a year after the first batches of Diagram 31 wagons were released to traffic before the high-sided wagons utilised until then were cascaded back into revenue-earning service.
The design was simple; 10 Tons and 15ft over headstocks with a 9ft wheelbase, the wagons had steel underframes, a wooden floor, and were seven planks high with the top two planks fixed across the length of the wagon with inside diagonal bracing. The wagons remained in production until 1899 by which time 1250 examples had been built.

One of the few photos that I’m aware of showing a diagram 31 loco coal wagon in the pre-1902 livery. This is wagon no. 946 at Loughton circa 1900.
The very interesting rake of Worsdell period close-coupled suburban stock will also appear on Basilica Fields…watch this space for more details.
Photograph ©Public Domain
Loco coal wagons were listed separately in the half yearly reports but were grouped with merchandise and mineral wagons, not with the departmental wagons, and were therefore painted grey and not green like the loco sand wagons.
As mentioned in Part 5, from 1904 the first of 650 Diagram 31 wagons were converted to Diagram 48 general merchandise wagons, and an example of this conversion will be included in the stock list.
Thanks to John Watling of the GER Society for information on the half-yearly reports.
September 17, 2012 at 11:35 am
So just how many of the diagram 31 wagons are going to be complete by the time that Angels Lane loco yard makes a first appearance in October 2014?
September 17, 2012 at 11:38 am
None, but there will be several diagram 46 wagons on the roster. Oops- jumping the gun…
September 17, 2012 at 11:38 am
And that was a bit sneaky 😉
September 17, 2012 at 12:25 pm
You could always smack my wrist and delete the comment.
On the other hand, nothing like working to a deadline.
The coal wagon post is rather nice, particularly the Loughton photo before the tubes. What about a GER official to compare with part 5?
Now maybe that might have been a better comment to post!
regards, Graham
January 9, 2013 at 11:03 pm
Adrian,
I have a (fairly well known) photo of T7 No 84 in Johnson condition and livery (so circa 1875) and visible in the background are a couple of loco coal wagons, one of which is dumb buffered.
They are ideal for me as I’m doing the Johnson era but are they any use to you or are they a bit early?
Rob R
January 10, 2013 at 7:09 pm
I’ve gone back an had a look at that photo – my records show I have two copies, but both have been trimmed, so any chance of a copy of yours please?
Interesting writing style on the wagon side – looks like a child has painted it 🙂