Strange but I have never come accross a shunting tractor before.
Saw a pic on google and it looks like a 'one waggon at a time' machine.

When i lived in St Blazey the Depot was right across the road from me and many a time my cat would walk with me to work at anytime of the day and walk right into the booking on point with me i used say to him go home you stupid cat.
ccmmick.

I have a picture from the Great Eastern Album by R.C. Riley of 2 horses drawing a bogie bolster with a brakeman in tow. Taken at Woodbridge in October 1956.

A few years ago EWS (as it was then) named a Class 60 loco "The Railway Horse" to acknowledge the contribution that horses have made over the years both shunting and hauling road vehicles. The naming took place on the Severn Valley Railway.
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There is a chance that the horse-drawn feature may be re-enacted at the Mangapps Farm Museum. A very old carriage is being moved across the farm yard on a temporary track to its new plinth in a new part of the extensive museum and it may just be possible to find suitable shire horses to make a demonstration 'train' which I would like to video for Youtube if it actually happens!!

Can i recommend a fantastic book by Bryan Holden "THE LONG HAUL"which covers the complete history of the thousands of horses employed by railway companys across the country. Heavy horses sometimes working in pairs catered for heavy cartage while all parcel type traffic had lighter horses called vanners(I once heard the definition of vanner was a horse that could trot 1 mile with a ton).Many horses were used as shunt horses and had their shoes made in a particular way to stop them getting caught in sleepers rodding etc.. The book covers all aspects of horse management by various companys. Jim D

horse shunting
 

At a gala quite some years ago the Festiniog had a welsh cob demonstrating slate waggon shunts at Harbour Station between trains, The weekly notice had an instruction to the effect that drivers of iron horses were requested/required not to frighten the live horse, there was a model (glass fibre I think) in the horse dandy as well, you see!

(Also, the empty slate waggons went back up to the quarries by horse haulage before The Prince and The Princess arrived)

Although the filing system has failed, ie I can't find my copy at the moment - it may be on loan to a friend, I remember reading a little while ago a book about Railway Horses, in which a 'Charlie' was mentioned as one of the two last shunters and his honhourable retirement was noted.

On the video FREIGHT, which I have mentioned before on this site, and which I have in front of me as I type, there is a piece of film of Horse shunting.

Very interesting.

48111

I think you are all Horsing Around.

ccmmick.

Don't saddle them with that, you'll get them all bridled - they're just jockeying for position. You'll be for the high jump, and that might leave you feeling flat. It's just a hurdle you'll have to jump. Dead cert! :)