One of Bristols major coal factors, Alfred Smith operated a significantly sized fleet of open coal wagons in this red livery. The arch style lettering was designed to be eyecatching, acting as an advertisment in goods yards and while passing through the city stations.

This wagon would have travelled widely, coal factors purchased bulk quantites of coal direct from collieries and obtained a variety of different coal grades. These were then sold on to local coal merchants across the South West for domestic sales, supplied to the factory boilers of Bristols' industries and to the steam ships at the docks. Few Bristol companies appear to have owned coal wagons, likely due to the ready supply of coal from the factor companies, also offering the ability to blend coals to get the best mix for the factory boilers at little extra cost.

Click here for our current OO gauge Special Edition wagons.