If a Bedale has always felt a touch long and a touch proper on you, this is the waxed jacket to try. The Transport sits shorter, swings out a little at the hem, and the raglan sleeve lets you reach for a steering wheel or a dog lead without the whole jacket riding up. In dark brown the wax reads like old saddle leather, and it gets better every season you put on it.
The original Transport was one of Dame Margaret Barbour's commissions, drawn up in the North East once the Bedale and Beaufort had landed in the early 1980s: the same 6 oz waxed cotton, cord collar and tartan lining, cut into a shorter A-line for people who spend the day moving. The company credits that jacket with helping turn a South Shields oilskin maker into a global name. This is the pattern brought back, first in a small run for the US in the fall of 2024.
The cut is generous on purpose. The maker's own advice is to go down one size from your usual jacket. If you want it closer to the body, go down two. A 40 runs about 27 inches (69 cm) pit to pit and 27.5 inches (70 cm) long, so it lands at the hip and layers over a shawl cardigan without a fight.
Sponge clean, never wash, and re-wax it every year or two with a tin of Thornproof dressing, which we keep on the shelf. Treat it that way and it is a twenty-year jacket. Ours goes over denim and a lambswool crew from the first cool week of September until the snow settles in, and again the moment it starts to melt.