{"product_id":"scottish-traders-wagons-volume-three-9781915069672","title":"Scottish Traders' Wagons Volume Three","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(255, 42, 0);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNow in Stock\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTraders N to Z\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis completes the three-volume survey of private traders’ wagons in Scotland. A further 409 traders, the majority either coalmasters or coal merchants, are discussed, giving information about well over 1,250 businesses across the three volumes and providing details of about 50,000 wagons. Some of the coal merchants described in this volume had large wagon fleets and have interesting histories. James Waldie, for instance, was Assistant Inspector of Police with responsibility for street lighting and cleansing but took advantage of the establishment in the late 1830s of the Edinburgh Coal Committee which had been formed to fight the coalmasters who were accused of acting in combination to artificially inflate prices. Waldie was one of the first Scottish coal merchants to purchase his own wagons and built up a fleet which, at its maximum, totalled 404 wagons. Waldie’s wagons delivered house coal, steam coal and coke from a variety of sources and have been recorded as far north as Rogart and Kyle of Lochalsh. Robert Taylor of Dundee registered just under 200 wagons with the Caledonian Railway and established branch offices in Arbroath, Montrose,  to the supply of coal to various trawler firms. The defendants were released on bail and absconded abroad. A later dispute in respect of short delivery and inferior quality of coal delivered under contract to Aberdeen trawler owners was settled out of court. Taylor left an estate worth £146,000 (nearly £9 million in today’s money) and an Inland Revenue investigation later discovered that he had siphoned off money from the company for his own use in his role as ‘governing director’ of the company. The Court of Session awarded the company £28,808 (20% of the estate value) plus interest. The United Collieries venture to consolidate Lanarkshire coalmasters’ businesses into a concern to rival the Fife Coal Co. ran into financial trouble almost as soon as it started, and several collieries that were profitable before joining the conglomerate were sold off because they could not be made to pay under United Collieries’ control. Having failed to meet production and financial targets its first managing director had to resign in 1904. He later had the dubious distinction of being declared bankrupt in England and Scotland at the same time. United’s wagons were acquired under purchase lease arrangements and quarterly payments were a constant drain on revenue. Working capital was frequently raised by renegotiating and consolidating the lease arrangements. Another type of merger, this time at the instigation of the Government, put the surviving shale oil producers under unified control immediately after the end of World War One. More than 400 tanks from the various firms were renumbered in blocks according to their capacity, with others added in the 1920s\/30s. A maintenance contract agreed in May 1929 covered 684 tanks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHardback, 320 pages, black \u0026amp; white photographs\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lightmoor Press","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":57826352955775,"sku":"9781915069672","price":35.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1910\/7111\/files\/9781915069672.jpg?v=1782310103","url":"https:\/\/rail-books.co.uk\/products\/scottish-traders-wagons-volume-three-9781915069672","provider":"Rail Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}