Specification
Waggon No. 178 was from a batch of 20 waggons built in Wakefield, Yorkshire, in late 1909, numbered 171-190, and registered with the London and North Western Railway Company. These waggons were fitted with side and bottom doors, Attocks 46A axleboxes and brakes at both sides. They had no end sills i.e., the floor was cut back and the end sheeting sat directly onto the headstock). The average tare weight of these waggons was 6 tons 2 cwt 1qr with a capacity of 10 tons.

A headstock is a transverse component located at each end of the underframe of a waggon. The length over the headstocks is the length of the waggon excluding its couplings and buffers.

Livery
Good red body, black ironwork, white letters, black shading.

In November 1910 a further 20 identical waggons were ordered, numbered 191-210, and these were delivered new as follows:

10 off, Nos 191-200, to Mitchell Main Colliery, Barnsley, Yorkshire, to load on account of T Hardy, Stalybridge. 5 off, Nos 201-205, to Houghton Main Colliery, Little Houghton, near Barnsley, Yorkshire. 5 off, Nos 206 to 210, to Hickleton Main Colliery, Thurnscoe, near Rotheram, Yorkshire, both to load on account of J. Mitchell, Mossley, Lancashire.

James Hargreaves & Sons (Leeds) Ltd
This company was an old established firm of coal exporters and factors and they operated a large fleet of waggons, mainly between the Yorkshire Coalfield and the ports of Goole, Hull and Immingham. Although principally engaged in the export of coal, the company did supply coal for domestic use.

James Hargreaves & Sons (Leeds) Ltd took delivery of a batch of 100 new coal waggons built early in 1923, numbered 401 to 500. Originally, they were intended to be registered with the Great Northern Railway but railway grouping came into effect on the 1 Jan 1923, so they would have been registered with the new London & North Eastern Railway.

Specification
The waggons are fitted with side, end and bottom doors, brakes either side, oil no. 116 axleboxes, Stanton type self-contained buffers and open spoke wheels. The average tare weight of these waggon was 7 tons 3 cwt 2 qrs (7.29 tonnes) with a capacity of 12 tons.

Livery
Dark sea grey body, black ironwork, white lettering and red shading.
Small lettering on door reads: ‘Not to be rotary tipped.’

It is known that Denton Colliery Co Ltd, Denton, Lancashire, used the services of James Hargreaves & Sons (Leeds) Ltd, for example, in 1923 25 of the new waggons, numbered 426 to 450, were delivered empty to Denton Colliery via Heaton Norris, Stockport. From Heaton Norris the waggons would be taken along the Stockport and Guide Bridge Line of the new London & North Eastern Railway to Denton Colliery Sidings at North Reddish and from there they would be taken to the colliery on the Denton Colliery Tramway by one of the colliery company’s own locomotives. These waggons had a capacity of 12 tons, so when filled the 25 waggons held 300 tons of coal. There are no records showing where this coal was delivered to but it could have been delivered either domestically or taken to Liverpool for export. It is unlikely that it was taken to one of the ports on the east coast.

50 of these new waggons were labelled for return to a particular colliery when empty, the instructions being printed in white on a small black tin plate, which could be removed if desired.

The waggon numbers and instructions are as follows:

Closure of Denton Colliery
On the 3 May 1926 the General Strike started and for the duration of the strike it was impossible to maintain the underground workings of Denton Colliery. Although the colliery did re-open after the strike the damage caused to the workings during the strike proved to be insurmountable and on the 2 Dec 1929 Denton Colliery Co Ltd went into voluntary liquidation.