[otd] 9 May 1928 - Traffic lost to rail - feathers

[whole diary]

[grahame]

When did you last see a train of feathers at your local station?



https://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/4372411.sawtells/

and

from http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/oldpics2.html

[ellendune]

IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) The common carrier requirements for rail-freight were based on weight.  I can't imagine therefore that feathers were a very profitable traffic for the railways.   

[grahame]

IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) The common carrier requirements for rail-freight were based on weight.  I can't imagine therefore that feathers were a very profitable traffic for the railways.   

Why?   It's just an urban myth that a ton of feathers is lighter than a ton of coal.

[ellendune]

IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) The common carrier requirements for rail-freight were based on weight.  I can't imagine therefore that feathers were a very profitable traffic for the railways.   

Why?   It's just an urban myth that a ton of feathers is lighter than a ton of least.

However, you need many more waggons to carry a ton of feathers than for a ton of coal. 

[Bmblbzzz]

I don't suppose there's much of a market for feathers now (as opposed to down). What were they all used for: mattresses? Golf balls?

[JayMac]

However, you need many more waggons to carry a ton of feathers than for a ton of coal.

Would that not depend on how compressed the feathers were? Packed tightly in bales could their volume match that of loose coal?

[Mark A]

This thread put me in mind of the last item on the following list of goods carried.

Mark

[stuving]

I don't suppose there's much of a market for feathers now (as opposed to down). What were they all used for: mattresses? Golf balls?

In 1879 there was a ridiculous court case in which Benjamin Sawtell, a bedding manufacturer of Melksham, sued the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) for the non-delivery of 7 cwt. of feathers. These had cost 6d per lb from Wexford, with carriage costs of 9/1 to Bristol, and 25/- per ton (the rate specific to feathers) from there to Melksham. The actual sums quoted in the court report, and which the case turned on, don't add up or make sense, but a possible 2/- for cartage from the ship's side to the station is mentioned.

[grahame]

This thread put me in mind of the last item on the following list of goods carried.

Mark

Swans (dead) and Surgical Operating Tables (folded).  Love it.

[Witham Bobby]

It appears we have lost whatever use there was for Sumtache Cleanser

[Mark A]

This thread put me in mind of the last item on the following list of goods carried.

Mark

Swans (dead) and Surgical Operating Tables (folded).  Love it.

One page from a very substantial book. Now imagining the other treasures within.

Mark

[PrestburyRoad]

It appears we have lost whatever use there was for Sumtache Cleanser

Sumtache Cleanser may have been well-known in the past but now it looks to be long-forgotten.  Google found basically one hit for it, an advertisement in The Chemist and Druggist in 1921 https://archive.org/stream/b19974760M2241/b19974760M2241_djvu.txt


THE CHEMIST AND DRUGGIST

March '19, 1921

ALLOTMENT of TERRITORIAL AGENCIES

The appointment of Agents for SUMTACHE in
the United Kingdom is now in progress. Further
applications are invited from Merchant Druggists
and Wholesale houses as representatives in certain
areas. Sumtache, the new one-minute
dry cleaner, is fully described in two
previous issues of the "Chemist and
Druggist."

PER 1 /Q BOT.

Protection applied for under P.A.T.A.

In attractively labelled Bottles and Cartons.

Free advertising matter. Sells at 1 2/- doz. to
retailer. Showing this week at the Woollen Trades
Exhibition, Agricultural Hall, London. Write to-day to

THE SUMTACHE 'CO., 31 Gerrard Street - W.1.

Clothes that are dirty, spotted and greasy
Clean with Sumtache — Nothing so easy

[stuving]

It appears we have lost whatever use there was for Sumtache Cleanser

Sumtache Cleanser may have been well-known in the past but now it looks to be long-forgotten. 

Sumtache ran similar newspaper ads only 1921-1923. Then in 1928 along comes Thawpit, pitching exactly the same uses, essentially "do your dry-cleaning at home". But they also say "Thawpit is non-inflammable", quoting (fake) reports of fires caused by the careless use of petroleum spirit. So I would guess that Sumtache (which did not claim non-inflammability) was basically refined petrol.

Thawpit, of course, was carbon tetrachloride, and I presume now no longer allowed.

[Mark A]

Just recycled a (dry) glass bottle of Thawpit from the back of a cupboard. The day when, as teenagers, a friend and I accidentally made phosgene will live long in our memory.

Mark

[Oxonhutch]

It's just an urban myth that a ton of feathers is lighter than a ton of coal.

It is true though that a pound of lead weighs more than a pound of gold.