It has some good info on rolling stock of the period:
The funny part (so far) is this:When goods traffic was commenced, all waggons were attached to the last passenger trains in the day, but upon opening to Basingstoke a goods train was run, conducted by three boys from fourteen to sixteen years of age. The vagaries of these youngsters were not, however, suffered to continue for any length of time, and a man soon took their place. As with the passenger, so with the goods guard, he was not provided with a brake van, he had, in fact, no brake to work, the stopping of his train depending entirely upon the engine brake.
A vehicle called a Noah's Ark was placed at the guard's disposal ; it had two swing doors on one side and a sloping roof, and carried small packages for roadside stations. Ordinary goods waggons were about twelve feet in length, very roughly finished, with dead buffers, and minus side chains and
springs to the drawbars.
In consequence of weak engine power some little difficulty was experienced in starting a heavy load, especially on an incline. Under such adverse circumstances the guard resorted to the expedient of placing a scotch under the last pair of wheels, so that the engine driver might put back to get all his waggon chains slack, and then take it with a run. This manoeuvre very often resulted in a portion of the train being left behind through chains breaking.
