In the pre- and immediate post-war era the saltworks of Cheshire all used the traditional method of salt extraction, in which brine was pumped up from the underground saltfields and then evaporated by boiling in a giant pan. This technique would have been quite familiar, apart from its scale, to the Romans. The pan was heated by a furnace consuming prodigious amounts of coal, and all this coal was brought to the saltworks by rail. Seddon's had a fleet of wagons in their own distinctive livery, which would be sent to the coalfields of North and South Wales, Yorkshire and the Midlands in order to bring back the fuel which kept the brine simmering away. Some of the open wagons were also used for making deliveries of coarse salt ( the type used for putting on roads rather than putting on fish & chips ), in which case the wagons would usually be sheeted with a tarpaulin to prevent rain from washing the load away. Cheshire still has a major salt industry in the 21st century, but the coal-fired pans have long since gone, and the coal wagons have gone with them.

Many thanks to Richard Neale for his assistance with the research into this livery.