The first five Kestrel Railway Books volumes by David Larkin looked at the revenue-earning wagon fleet operated by British Railways and its successor, British Rail. These were followed by a series of three books looking at the specially designed wagons that were used for track maintenance, and then three volumes covering the parcels and passenger-rated stock. This is the second of two covering the ex-private owner fleet.
When BR was created, it was intended that it should own all railway rolling stock, but legal action by some of the larger wagon-owning companies delayed things until 1951. Non-pool wagons were defined as privately-owned wagons allowed to run over railways owned or operated by the British Transport Commission. This series sets out the types of wagon eligible to be classified as Non-Pool and lists them individually with details of numbers carried, capacity and registration details where known. Volume 1 covered owners with initials A to H, and Volume 2 deals with the remaining owners alphabetically.
