The LNER Encyclopedia

This is a strange one for sale on Ebay,

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/British-Railw ... 1865wt_928

The title says Western Region, but when the photo of a page of entries is enlarged to a readable size I am sure the heading says - Potters Bar No1

But the strangeness does not stop there, as underneath it says what appears to be " Knottingley switch in 0600hrs ".

Then below that are a list of trains passing the box, which include 0100 Toton, ex-Nottingham, 0700 Taunton and Autocoach.

Does this make sense to anyone?

In a word, 'No'.

The book itself certainly looks like a genuine BR(W) one, not least that, in the internal pages pics, from the mention in the 4th column from the left of Regulation 4A.

Possibly the entries made are those of someone's flights of fantasy, but using authentic terms, locations, (specific trains?).
[AFAIK, there was never a "No.1" at Potters Bar.]

Yes the idea that it was a blank register, with a couple of pages filled in with random entries, was my conclusion but I didn't like to get carried away without a second opinion, as it were.

The cynic in me has decided that maybe blank registers do not command such a high price as completed ones, and this might be an attempt to make it appear to be something it is not (allegedly).

Caveat emptor as always with Ebay.

Yes - Beware - I've seen train registers 'faked' before now, indeed I know a certain model railway which had better remain nameless where there were a pile of blank registers donated by an ex GWR Manager kept in a box under the layout. On running nights the job of filling one in was started but the idea soon ran out of steam.

You remember the BTF film on single line working made on the S&D. The train registers used in that were not the ones used for normal traffic. It was all filmed on Sundays and trains were reversed and run into Stations again to suit the script. Binegar became Boiland and Shepton Mallet Averton Hammer.

I may be wrong, but the registers may have passed to one of the local enthusiasts - whom I cannot remember now. This is where so called genuine articles can start to go awry.

The issue of train registers to signal boxes was strictly controlled. This was no doubt to avoid a repetition of the Quintinshill scenaro when the dayshift man arrived late and copied the entries in!

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Another point.
Was 06.00 to 21.30 ish allowable as a working day for one shift?
It all looks to be in the same hand.

Bryan wrote:Another point.
Was 06.00 to 21.30 ish allowable as a working day for one shift?
It all looks to be in the same hand.

I thought that as well . They must have really worked the poor Book Lads in those days.

On a visit to one of the Finsbury Park s/boxes 40 years ago i vaguely recall the signalman keeping 2 books going (duplicate entries for some reason?) i wasn't to sure wot that was all about and i did ask but i can't recall wot the reply was??.

It may have been Finsbury Park 4 or 5 but it's all a long time ago now.

I've been writing in TRBs for 40 years now day in and day out and it's something that i don't think twice about but obviously a lot of people are interested in them, where i am now i've got 20 of more used TRBs gathering dust.

I think they are handy for realistic modelling, if they can be used in conjunction with the working timetable, because between them they give an overall picture of the movements at a particular time.

If they include loco numbers then even better.

My only involvement with TRBs was when signing for or giving up a possession and making sure the correct stamp was used.

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It's about 10 years since I was last a PICOP then NWR / Railtrack took it all in house or to nominated sub contractors. Not the engineering contractors though.

When I was acting as PICOP I normally had another couple of badges or titles as well.
Usually acting as PICOP, ES. TQS. when with a tamper or Tech if with welders.

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Re your query... It isn,t one that someone has been using for a model railway??? A model railway enthusiast knowing someone who works in this part of the railway trade may have been given one as a present and decided to record train movements on their layout...