A  census  of  British  raUway-owned  wagons  (excluding  service  and  cattle
wagons)  found  on  railway  lines  or  in  arsenals,  factories,  etc.,  on  November
i6th,  1919,  showed  (after  making  the  necessary  adjustments)  a  total  of
698,120.  Booked  stock  on  the  same  date  (excluding  service  and  cattle
wagons,  but  including  21,122  wagons  sent  overseas)  numbered  733,627.
Varieties  of  Wagons.
On  the  other  hand,  there  were  diflBculties  in  the  way  of  common-user
which  applied  to  raUway-owned  no  less  than  to  privately-owned  wagons.
In  the  one  case  as  in  the  other,  coiistruction  had  not  been  standardised.
Just  as  traders'  wagons  had  been  built  to  suit  the  special  requirements  of
particular  firms,  so  had  railway  wagons  been  built  to  meet  what  were
regarded  as  the  special  needs  of  different  lines.  Each  company  had  its
own  standard,  and  the  standards  differed  as  between  themselves,  no  two
companies  having  the  same.  Then,  also,  wagons  btiilt  to  meet  the  traf&c
conditions  of  one  system,  or  even  one  part  of  a  system,  would  not  neces-
sarily be  adapted  to  those  of  another.  There  were,  again,  differences
in  conditions  at  sidings  and  depots  no  less  than  at  collieries  and  ports,
and  these,  in  turn,  could  not  be  standardised  without  physical  recon-
struction on  a  scale  far  greater  than  could  be  undertaken  in  war-time.
