David Larkin is a retired railwayman of over 60 years' service, chiefly as a signalman. He commenced photographing wagons in 1968 and ceased in 1992, having amassed a collection of over 17,500 black & white negatives. He has backed up this collection with research into official records, both within B.R. and the N.R.M. at York, and has supplemented his own collection with black & white prints from other sources.