Railway Archive Issue 34

From 'Scottish Traders' Wagons' : A post-Grouping view looking across the Motherwell Bridge & Engineering Co. Ltd’s sidings to their main works building, again with a good selection of traders’ wagons in the picture. In the left foreground, Salmon & Young were coal merchants at Greenock, founded in 1863 by W.B. Salmon and were still in business as coal merchants and wagon repairers at Nationalisation. The newly painted Waldie wagon carries the paint date 14/4/26 on the solebar, which provides a fairly precise date for this photograph. James Waldie started his business career in 1833, with a contract to clean dung off the streets of Leith. He then became a coal merchant and traded under the James Waldie name until October 1861, when he took his sons into partnership and the firm became James Waldie & Sons. The firm was incorporated as James Waldie & Sons Ltd in 1915 and traded under that name until the 1960s. Wagon No. 523 was built in 1901 by Hurst Nelson for the Laverock Knowe Coal Co. Carrying on to the right, Dechmont Colliery was acquired by Archibald Russell Ltd in 1898 and then right again, is a wagon belonging to Brand & Co. of Over Dalserf and Woodside collieries, followed by a wagon belonging to Hugh Keith, the Glasgow coal merchant, who was in business between 1856 and 1929, and most of whose wagons were later purchased by Hurst Nelson for their hire fleet. The writer knows of no other photographs showing Brand & Co. or Hugh Keith wagons. The paintwork on the two Jas. Nimmo wagons also looks pretty clean and they carry LMS branding as well as lettering for Canderrig Colliery, near Larkhall. They are flanked by Nimmo wagons with an earlier, simpler style of lettering. Note also that, to their right, two of the railway company wagons visible still carry pre-Group branding. In between these two is what is believed to be a wagon belonging to William Barr & Sons Ltd, Allanton Colliery, Hamilton. In the foreground are examples of the Motherwell Company’s products, steel girders and support beams for bridges. Motherwell Bridge Holdings collection, courtesy www.scran.ac.uk