The LNER Encyclopedia

This is a total newbie question --

I've found few photos of freight wagons lettered for the LNER. Most of them seemed lettered for the NER. Was there a particular reason for this?

NE was a shortened form on LNER locos to save paint during the war perhaps the same applies to goods stock.

J Yoder wrote:This is a total newbie question --

I've found few photos of freight wagons lettered for the LNER. Most of them seemed lettered for the NER. Was there a particular reason for this?

Standard LNER good stock livery was NE in large letters pre 1936 and small letters after that date.

The North Eastern Railway always used NER on their goods stock.

I had assumed that NE was for NER not LNER.

Thanks for the clarification. Like I said, total newbie question.

Bill: The NER also used "NE" on a lot of its hopper stock (if you class mineral as goods). I know I just lettered a 20 ton hopper like this. Double checked - yes Tatlow (the NER/HBR volume) has hoppers that use both. The trend seems to be "NE" on the larger hoppers and "N.E.R." on the smaller but that was only from a cursory look.


The LNER also retained the NER's wagon numbers - the NER owned more wagons than any other of the constituents.


Richard

Looking at a photo of a wagon letter NE, it can be very difficult to decide whether the wagon belonged to the North Eastern Railway or to the LNER. Many wagons were owned by both companies. To add to the confusion, as has been pointed out above, the NER running numbers were retained by the LNER. Through the years there were many subtle changes in painting specifications, too complicated to discuss here. Nonetheless, I might suggest a simple way to tell one from the other. According to the North Eastern Record, Vol 2, the North Eastern Railway lettered their goods vehicles with NER or N.E.R. from the early 1890's until 1911. From then until the grouping, the lettering was changed to NE, 12 inches high. When the LNER took over in 1923, the NE was enlarged to 18 inches high. Starting in 1936, NE in 5 inch lettering appeared at the lower left. Hope this helps.