This model of Sutton Trading number 48 represents the wagon photographed by the Gloucester RC&W company in 1939, an example of a batch of 25 wagons supplied. Based in Cardiff, Sutton Trading would have had access to a wide range of South Wales collieries and the Great Western routes to the West Midlands via Gloucester and London via Bristol. Built in 1939 it would be expected that this wagon would still have been in good condition when requisitioned under the wartime pooling arrangements, so near-new Sutton wagons could have travelled anywhere in Britain from 1940 onwards!
Number 48 was marked for return empty to the National Pit at Wattstown in the Rhondda Fach. This colliery was owned by United National Collieries, originally served by the Taff Vale Railway, and was noted for the high quality steam coal produced.
Sutton Trading owned a substantial fleet with older wagons carrying much higher numbers than this, so it is most likely that this order was a replacement for a batch of old wagons. The marking 'For repairs advise Sutton Trading...' indicates that the company may well have had their own repair depot.
The Sutton Trading Company still operates in the coal business today, still from offices in Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff.