The LMS inherited some 305,000 good vehicles from its constituent companies. However, many of these needed replacing and the LMS embarked on a huge wagon building program. It looked to a Midland Railway design as its standard open wagon.
The first batch of 1,000 wagons was built by the LMS in 1923.
A staggering total of 54,450 wagons were built to this design - designated Diagram 1666 by the LMS – up to 1930. There were more Dia. 1666s built than the total number of goods wagons on the Southern Railway!
These wagons survived in large numbers well into the BR era with a number finding their way into private works and industrial use. But for a wagon that was built in such large numbers only a handful have survived into preservation including at the Chasewater Railway and Buckinghamshire Railway Centre.
