The LNER Encyclopedia

Hi,

My father-in-law passed away and left a large collection of LNER memorabilia (books, magazines, VHS, DVD, wall plates, paintings, etc.), he worked for BR (and earlier) for 47 years as a fireman and driver.

There were also three brass plates stashed away, I suspect he was not overly reticent in acquiring such items should the opportunity arise. He had a loose definition of opportunity. They are between 7.5 and 9.5 inches long, 1.5 inches high and 0.25 inches thick. They have the codes (picture attached):

L&NER 3810
NER 3837
NER J272

Anybody have a clue what they are?

Thanks

Station barrows i would suggest.

I thought Barrow plates were a bit smaller than that more like 3 - 4 inch in length.

No, they are definitely barrow plates. The rarest and most collectable ones have the station name in full and I used to have Northallerton and York, the former being rarer because York had more barrows. In August 1978 I photographed this barrow at Bedale station.....it had made its way all the way from Potto station!

Potto Luggage Trolley Bedale par PinzaC55, on ipernity

Thanks for the info.

I will fix the best of the three to a garden bench in memory of my wife's father and put the other two in the recycle bin.

I hope I am not correct in my understanding of your last post. Do you intend to scrap two of these historic artefacts or do you mean something else by 'putting them in the recycle bin' ?
As a volunteer at the Archives of the North Eastern Railway Association, I would hate to see these items lost for future reference. Apart from being decorative items in their own right, have you considered an alterative use such as paper weights?

Tom.

XYZZY wrote:put the other two in the recycle bin.

I too am astonished at that.

Please they do have some historic value. Maybe there is a local preserved railway you could offer them to, or even the NRM at York.
At the very least they could probably auction them to help their funds even if they do not have a use for them.

Alan

Its worth mentioning that some of the old NER weekly notices contained reports of missing barrows complete with their serial numbers. It would be nice to have the plate off a barrow that was reported missing in 1920.

Scroll down this page for a shot of a brass "BARNARD CASTLE" barrow plate.

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index. ... 980/page-3