Locomotive allocations, January 1902 onwards, are at TNA, RAIL 254/60 et seq. (Case closed with thanks.)

[Compound2632]

There's been some discussion on @Mikkel's blog about allocations of engines of the 1854 and 2721 classes:

There use is made of published allocation information for 1921, which suits his particular project. However, the subject of earlier allocation lists has also been discussed, with rather a blank being drawn. For passenger engines one can glean much from E.L. Ahrons, Locomotive and Train Working in the Latter Part of the Nineteenth Century (Heffer, 1952) but there doesn't seem to be much in detail for goods and tank engine classes. However, Locomotives Illustrated No. 157, Great Western Railway Armstrong and Dean 0-6-0s (RAS Publishing, April-June 2005) gives a full listing of allocations for January 1902 for those classes (and also the Gooch standard gauge 0-6-0s), along with May 1922, July 1939, and January 1948, for those engines still in service at those dates. The article is by J.W.P. Rowledge*. J. Clements, William Dean: the greatest of them all (Noodle Books, 2012), which is principally a book about the 2301 class, gives full allocations by number for that class for 31 Dec 1923 and 31 Dec 1933 but only a distribution list (quantity per shed) for 1902, 1909, and 1913, said to be "at the start of each year", which confirms the existence of a January 1902 allocation list.

 

Any clues as to where this list might be, either published or in an archive?

Edited November 16, 2021 by Compound2632
Updated topic title.

[Steamport Southport]

There's also the list for 31/12/1947 in the ET Lyons Engine Shed book.

 

And this book has a list for June 1947 (ISTR it was June).

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Western-Railway-Glorious-Years/dp/0715387634

 

 

PS. If you want a copy get the original version as the recent one was quite poorly printed. I was going to buy a copy to replace my old copy.

 

 

Jason

[Compound2632]

Just now, Steamport Southport said:

There's also the list for 31/12/1947 in the ET Lyons Engine Shed book.

 

And this book has a list for June 1947 (ISTR it was June).

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Western-Railway-Glorious-Years/dp/0715387634

 

 

PS. If you want a copy get the original version as the recent one was quite poorly printed. I was going to buy a copy to replace my old copy.

 

I should perhaps have mentioned that Lyons and Lyons & Mountford had also been discussed on @Mikkel's blog; I had not done so as they are apparently not relevant to my question, which was about earlier allocation lists - before 1921 at least and rather specifically, January 1902. I do not doubt that the whereabouts of every Great Western locomotive is known in the post-WW2 period, probably in the 1930s too.

[Mikkel]

 

 

Thanks for raising the topic here, Stephen. 

 

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

a distribution list (quantity per shed) for 1902, 1909, and 1913,

 

Glad to hear that, I couldn't remember if it was in Clement's book. When I get back home I'll dive into it and plot the details on to the Google map (for which purpose a distribution list is not only enough, but also the most convenient). That should help give a visual overview of the changing (or not) distribution patterns of Dean Goods in the Edwardian period. 

[Brassey]

Allocations Ledgers are in the records at Kew. I do not know if 1902 exists but I have a copy of 1912 which shows every loco in number order by month. 

[Compound2632]

10 minutes ago, Brassey said:

Allocations Ledgers are in the records at Kew. I do not know if 1902 exists but I have a copy of 1912 which shows every loco in number order by month. 

 

Thank you. Looking them up, RAIL 254/60 et seq., there's a complete run from 1902 onwards, as far as I can see.

 

I really must get round to renewing my TNA ticket!