7mm In Search of Clays

[Osgood]

Spliced, surely?

I‘m knot going to dispute that.
Guess there may be a close-up photo of the clays in use that could solve the fastener question?
Paul B’s set linked to above are tantalisingly close but not enough to solve it.
None of the many tilts I saw had the yellow stripe along edge as seen in some of Paul’s photos - wonder what that denoted?

 

[smgee]

I‘m knot going to dispute that.
Guess there may be a close-up photo of the clays in use that could solve the fastener question?
Paul B’s set linked to above are tantalisingly close but not enough to solve it.
None of the many tilts I saw had the yellow stripe along edge as seen in some of Paul’s photos - wonder what that denoted?

I think I read somewhere that the yellow stripe on the hood identified wagons that carried ball clay. Of course, I'm sure there's the odd photo of a yellow-striped hood on a wagon with a "CHINA CLAY ONLY" notice.

Regarding the clips I mentioned previously, there is evidence to suggest that there was a clip at both the hood and body ends, connected by a length of rope or maybe even bungee cord? Take a look at these and you can see hints of the clips:

https://flic.kr/p/TNWtsX

https://flic.kr/p/NLru38

https://flic.kr/p/qQBtwJ

https://flic.kr/p/abfR4m

And this small collection shows some clips up-close:

OOV (UCV) 'Clay Hood' - Martyn Read
OOV (UCV) 'Clay Hood' - Martyn Read

Assuming that the hoods were removed for loading and/or unloading on the tipper, there must surely have been a quick way of removing them that didn't involve mucking about with rope/knots?!