Early BR Shedcodes Query

[stnman]

To be honest, I'm not really sure where on the Forum this belongs, but here goes ...

Over the Festive Season, whilst looking for something else entirely, I came across a scruffy piece of paper on which, many moons ago, I had copied from some sort of official document the first application of BR Shedcodes to the Eastern Region. Exactly where I obtained the information is now unfortunately lost for ever in the mists of obscurity, but could well have been from a Fortnightly Notice or some Supplementary Operating Instructions.

It states that the Eastern Division (Stratford, Cambridge, Norwich and Tilbury Districts) were first coded on 4/7/49 in the familiar 30, 31, 32 and 33 series.

However, it also states that the Western Division (ex GN and GC Lines) were first coded on 2/5/49: King's Cross being 40A, New England 41A, Doncaster 42A, Ardsley 43A, Colwick 44A, Gorton 45A and Lincoln 46A. BUT ALSO that on 4/7/49 the Western Division was recoded into the familiar King's Cross 34A, etc.

This begs several questions! Why the change after only two months? Did any locos carry the short-lived 40-series codes? If so, is there any photographic evidence? Are any of the 40-series shedplates still in existance? (If so, I imagine they would be as rare as hens' teeth!)

A couple of things to finish with: I vaguely remember reading something about all this in a book some while ago; and (if it's relevant) the Scottish Region wasn't recoded into the 60-series until 4/7/49, until when the ex-LMS codes 30A, 31A and 32A were still in use.

Over to you and your superior knowledge, gentlemen.

[Pyewipe Junction]

According to Volume 1 of The Handbook of Steam Motive Power Depots, the decision to adopt the LMS-style coding for sheds was made by the Motive Power Committee on 24 June 1949, following approval by the Railway Executive on 23 June. The Committee minutes noted that implementation was to be deferred until the Southern Region had agreed its districts. This was not done until 27 February 1950.

The shedcodes you quote must have been informal proposals as they predate the RE approval. Obviously, discussions were taking place about possible number series and perhaps it was thought at that time that there should be separate (ie: non-contiguous) ranges for the Eastern and Western Divisions. However, had this taken place it would have given the impression that they were separate Regions and this may be why the proposal was discarded.

The national BR shedcode system wasn't introduced until early 1950. I doubt that any loco (except ex-LMS ones) had an shedplate until then.

Turning to your second question, yes LMS shed codes went to 32, 27 to 32 being for Scottish depots. The list is at page 60 of the 1948 Combined Volume, which was reissued together with the first Locoshed Book of Summer 1950. The 13 series were the ex-LTS sheds and Devons Road, subsequently 1D.

As you can gather, I find shedcodes endlessly fascinating, as they provide an insight into operating arrangements. What is not generally known is that shedcodes sometimes did not necessarily align with BR Regions - I understand that the areas represented by the West Riding sheds (LMR codes 20 and 25) that became NE Region codes 55 and 56 were in fact part of the NE region for some time before the shedcodes were transferred.

[stnman]

Thanks very much for that, Pyewipe. Your reply has cleared up several matters that have long been puzzling me. It's so annoying that one's memory plays such rotten tricks as one grows older!

The list I saw and copied must obviously have been an early draft.

I knew about the LMS Scottish sheds and the Tilbury District transferring to the Eastern Region, but I am still unclear as to what happened about the combined GW/LMS Shrewsbury District, and the ex-CLC sheds.

The West Riding sheds you mention were as far as I know part of the fixation that BR had with eliminating "penetrating lines", whereby, post-1948, the Big Four had lines surrounded entirely by another Region, which looked untidy on a map, so led first of all to the clumsily-named "Operating Areas" which kept their original boundaries, and then complete absorption. We all know what happened to the GC.... So the West Riding sheds, ex-LMS and ex-GN, although geographically in the North Eastern Region from the early 1950's, did not become part of the North Eastern Operating Area until the late 1950's.

Only a committee could have dreamed that one up!

Thanks once again for your input,

stnman.

[Pyewipe Junction]

Shrewsbury was in fact two sheds on the one site, not a joint shed AFAICT. In LMS days it was the chief depot of district 4, which aslo included Swansea Victoria (4B, later 87K), Upper Bank (4C, later 87K subshed), Abergavenny (4D, later 86K) and Tredegar (4E, then initially a subshed of 86K and then briefly 86K in its own right until 1960). Shrewsbury's GW code was SALOP.

The treatment of ex-CLC and LNER (Bidston, Wrexham and Wigan Lower Ince) sheds is quite interesting to follow. Bidston, Wrexham and Chester Northgate immediately went to the Chester (6) district as 6F, 6E and 6D respectively and stayed there until closure.

The remainder of the CLC sheds plus Wigan and, unusually, Belle Vue, an ex-MR shed essentially on the opposite side of the line to Gorton, were intially combined as district 13 as follows: 13A Trafford Park (CLC/LMS joint), 13B Belle Vue (LMS), 13C Heaton Mersey (CLC/LMS joint) plus sub, 13D Northwich (CLC/?LMS - it had 8Fs allocated), 13E Brunswick (CLC) plus subs, 13F Walton-on-the-Hill and 13G Wigan Lower Ince. The impracticability of this arrangement was immediately recognised and it was abandoned within months, the 1950 Summer Locoshed Book showing them as 8E (Brunswick), 8E (Warrington CLC- must be a typo as it was a subshed of Brunswick), 9E (Trafford Park), 9F(Heaton Mersey), 9G (Northwich), 10F (Wigan), 26G (Belle Vue) and 27E (Walton).

But that wasn't the end! For some reason Trafford Park and Heaton Mersey briefly became 17E and 17F around 1957-58, Northwich became 8E and Brunswick became 27F.

One last thing: the 1950 list shows Macclesfield (GC) as a subshed of Gorton.

[kudu]

One for the shedcode nerds:

Which shed had the most code changes under BR?

Kudu

[Pyewipe Junction]

That's a tough one! it must be a shed that changed code four times, as I can think of several that changed code three times - Colwick for example (38A, 40E then 16B). Do you know the answer?

[Pyewipe Junction]

I've identified the following sheds with four code changes between 1 January 1950 and the end of steam in August 1968: Barrow, Blackpool, Carlisle Canal, Heaton Mersey, Lancaster, Skipton, Trafford Park and Woodford Halse. Some (eg: Blackpool) had the same code twice!

Any others?

[kudu]

The answer I have has been listed above. I think reversion to a previous code counts as a separate change for my answer to be right.

Kudu

[kudu]

Time for the answer: Lancaster Green Ayre.

Hope no-one asks me for my source - I read it somewhere authoritative but I can't remember where.

Kudu

[johnwaero]

Again a belated response to set some context to the initial question.
Regional boundaries were the subject of significant review and change during the period 1948 until 1950 and there were of course many subsequent changes.
The 40 series shed codes are referred to by the Engine Shed Society on their comprehensive CD and also by Paul Bolger in his series on regional sheds. There is a view that this related to a potential East Anglia Region, although other texts, by Michael Bonavia for example refer to consideration of North Western and Welsh regions before vesting day on 1st January 1948 and do not mention an Anglia Region. However, it was made clear that the 6 new regions might be subject to changes with time. What is clear is that the final shed codes were only applied to the Scottish Region in 1949 and to the rest in 1950. Until that point locomotives continued to use the appropriate big four designation. Interestingly, the 45 series, subsequently 39 series initially included all the sheds within the Gorton District from Sheffield in the East to Wrexham and Bidston in the West. This was before the regional boundaries started to settle down and before the shed codes were applied.
The January/February 1949 issue of Railway Magazine summarises the boundary changes agreed in 1948 and implemented immediately/early 1949 or as part of the penetrating lines dual region commercial/operational arrangement in April 1950. The policy on joint lines was to allocate them to one parent region, an approach which had been discussed by the big four on a company basis prior to the War. The M&GN was transferred operationally to the LNER in 1936 but the LNER could not agree to relinquish control of the CLC to the LMS. The LNER had two thirds ownership and the network provided access to lucrative coal and docks traffic. However, the Railway Executive allocated the CLC to the LMR but this left the problem of the attached former GC lines which initially were included in the Eastern Region. Whilst this was resolved the CLC's separate management organisation continued to operate until finally stood down on November 30th 1948 when the western extremities of the GC were also added to the LMR.
The emergence of the 13 series shed codes to cover former CLC sheds plus Belle Vue perhaps has some justification in the sense that the CLC sheds had been part of a single operational district under the LNER and on the LNER side of the fence had similar types with a strong link back to Gorton works. Although a joint railway, it was the GC/LNER who had provided the motive power for internal operations. The sheds with a significant LMS allocation were Trafford Park and Heaton Mersey, along with Belle Vue all part of the 19 Sheffield Grimesthorpe district. Given Belle Vue's geographical proximity and close links with the former GC and Midland joint lines to the east of Manchester it probably made more sense to link this relatively minor depot with the new district HQ at Trafford Park rather than Grimesthorpe.
The 13 series would no doubt have been allocated some time in 1949 when the series became free as a result of the transfer of the LTSR from the LMR to the ER. In April 1950, just three months after the initial shed code allocation, there was a significant shake up as a result of regional boundary changes and the opportunity was taken to break up the 'CLC' district and allocate its sheds to local geographical districts. For good economical and operational reasons the sheds continued to be home to largely ex GC types until they were retired in the late 1950s and the LMR takeover was finally complete. 1950 saw an influx of D16 Claud Hamiltons to Trafford Park to handle CLC Manchester-Liverpool services before being displaced and returning to East Anglia.
The former GC lines and depots around Wrexham and Chester were transferred to the LMR in November 1948 and the new 6 series shed codes applied in 1950. However, in yet another regional boundary twist the southern end of the Wrexham-Bidston line became part of the Western Region commercially from April 1950 and so the former LNER line and Wrexham Rhosddu depot became part of an LMR line penetrating into WR territory! In the February 1958 realignment which also saw the end of Gorton as an ER depot and the carve up of the GC main line, Rhosddu was transferred to the Western Region with code 84K.
As far as the 4 district sheds were concerned, the joint lines providing the LMS links to outposts in South Wales were allocated to the WR. The detached LMS system was also transferred to the WR in 1948 and the sheds were subsequently recoded in the new WR series in 1950. Arguments about penetrating lines did not seem to be a problem in this particular case.

[1H was 2E]

Just been belatedly reading through the posts.

A little while ago a shedplate for 45-something came up at auction; perhaps it was authentic and in anticipation of the suggested codes being adopted.

It didn't go for much; I guess everyone thought it was hookey.

I'm really intrigued by the shedplates that appear at auction, bearing in mind that the preservation group for a heavy freight loco used to, in the late sixties, manufacture and sell as replicas 'plates to raise money for their project.

I remember the great LM recode of September 1963. One Sunday I found that all the 2E 'plates had been removed, and "1H" had been applied rather untidily in white paint. With electrification, the shed and its staff were all doomed, so there wasn't much enthusiasm about. I don't ever recollect seeing a 1H plate on a loco. ..., but they appear at auction. 1H lasted, after a postponement, two years from the recoding. "H" wasn't particularly 'high' but I remember that the Liverpool district went up to 8R. R seemed bizarrely high (Walton on the Hill) and closed not long after the recoding, but I've seen 8R plates at auction. Just wonder how many of these are authentic.

I also wonder whether the old plates removed at recoding were sent to their new sheds; 2E sent by Northampton to Saltley sounds possible, but 30A from Inverness to Stratford????

[1H was 2E]

Further to the above, the Collectors Guide to LOCOMOTIVE RAILWAYANA gives 42D and 43E shedplates as offered for auction; the first went for £38 and the second was unsold.
As it seems unlikely that anyone would go to the trouble of creating a replica and then choose a non existent code perhaps these plates were genuine, and relate to the stalled scheme.

[1H was 2E]

Found further reference to the earliest, unadopted, shed codes in the RO for March, 1949 (predating some of the official decisions, apparently!). It's headed "Provisional shed code for the Western Section of the Eastern Region".
The proposed codes for 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 and 46 had the same allocation of letters as actually happened for districts 34 to 38 and 40; but 45 was a bit odd. 45A Gorton, 45B Sheffield, 45C Wrexham and 45D Bidston.
This was updated in the November edition, "the shed code previously published as a provisional code has been varied consequent upon the merger as from 1/4/49 of the two sections into which the Eastern Region was formerly divided for locomotive purposes. The codes shown should all have 6 deducted from those shown. Wrexham and Bidston have since been transferred to the LM Region".
This also ties in with the disconnection, already mentioned, between commercial, operating and M&E regions.
There is also reference in the November 1949 edition again, of 81A plates being seen on Old Oak locos. As I expect the ex GWR would be the most reluctant of all to adopt LMS practice this provides a pointer to the date of widespread adoption of shed plates.