Hello Annie
Regarding post #2418. There were differing ways for goods to arrive from "foreign parts".
On the N.E.R. (and presumably other companies had similar rules) if a consignor offered a load which weighed over two tons for a single consignee then the local goods clerk would arrange for a wagon to collect it and deliver it, the wagon being marshalled at various points en route. Don Rowlands in his 1974 articles "Keeping the Balance" used the Carlisle biscuit maker Carrs as an example using the L.M.S. A wagon (or in the case of Carrs, a covered van) would take the load to its destination (for example a G.W.R. depot or siding in Bristol) and then it was up to the G.W.R. to return the L.M.S. covered van to the nearest L.M.S. depot/yard. After the 1917 Common User agreement if the covered van type was included in the pooling agreement then the G.W.R. could use it to load traffic for a destination preferably (but not guaranteed) to be in a direction taking it "home". If not a type covered by the pooling agreement then the obligation remained to take it back to the nearest L.M.S. depot/yard.
If the load offered was under two tons or for multiple consignees then the clerk would refer to the company rules for how to take it. Some stations only handled wagon load traffic, so if that was the nearest station to the consignor the clerk would identify the nearest station offering "small consignment" facilities and this (in the case of the N.E.R.) would be loaded in to the relevant "road wagon" timetabled to stop there. "road wagon" on the N.E.R./L.N.E.R. was not an automobile running on the highway but a railway covered van attached to local goods trains. These ran to timetables and were dedicated to routes radiating from transhipment depots. When arriving at a transhipment depot the road wagons would be unloaded and the consignments transhipped to the relevant "Transhipment Van", which ran between transhipment hubs. The N.E.R. had both 15 Ton "Road Wagons" and 15 Ton "Transhipment Vans" along with a ATB fitted 25 Ton bogie "Transhipment Vans" for traffic requiring a faster transit. Like "Road Wagons" these operated to timetables and were run on dedicated routes. Where traffic exceeded the capacity of the allocated "Road Wagons" and "Transhipment Vans" the company would utilise 10 Ton/ 12 Ton covered vans from the general fleet.
The L.N.E.R. continued this practise on the N.E. Area until the mid-1930s, when the "Road Wagon" network was rationalised, with some smaller destinations being served by a motor truck from a larger depot rather than by a "Road Wagon".
It is a little surprising to find that a mere 2 Tons for a single destination would get you a wagon. When you think of the 8, 10 and 12 Ton capacity of wagons this is as little as a sixth of the loaded capacity. I do not doubt that many consignments were to the wagon capacity (bulk lods such as coal, ore, stone being obvious examples) but there may have been many instances where merchandise was between 2 and 12 Tons. If you were a regular customer I do not doubt that the local clerk might have helped you out if the consignment was close to, but not over 2 Tons. Given the existence of road wagons and transhipment vans, the volume of traffic where consignments were below 2 Tons was a significant portion of goods traffic. Fruit, Fish, Meat and Ventilated Vans, along with plate, bogie bolster, flat, well and trestle wagons were all types geared towards accomodating wagon loads for single destinations. Bearing in mind though, that coal traffic trounced all others in terms of tonnage.
15T Road Wagon, 15T Transhipment Van and 25T Transhipment van