Originally, open wagons (those defined as having no cover and generally used for coal, minerals, or other products not unduly affected by weather conditions) were of one of two types: private owner or railway company owned and operated. The volume of each type ran into the thousands. This situation persisted until World War II when the in-numerous number of vehicles making up the private owner fleet were commandeered for use in the national emergency and in many cases literally run until they dropped. To replace these and allow for more vehicles, a vast number of all-steel mineral wagons were built and which was in many ways an attempt at standardisation.

Acquired Wagons Volume 2 covers in detail the all-steel mineral wagon fleet which was acquired by BR in 1948. This fleet comprised the 12T former private owner wagons and the GWR loco coal wagons, which were uprated to 13T, the 16T wagons from the LNER, the LMS, the Ministry of Transport and the former private owners together with the 20T LNER, LMS, and GWR loco coal wagons and the other group of former private owner wagons, which were all updated to 21T.

David Larkin has predicted a detailed synopsis of this all-steel fleet with build and numerical details and heavily illustrated with black and white photographs.

This book is a must for those with an interest in the humble and often neglected railway wagon as well as anyone studying or modelling the railways in the period 1940 through to the 1970s and even beyond.