Dxxxx to Tops numbering

[keefer]

They were with a few exceptions arranged by type, so Type 4s all being D1-D1999, Shunters D2000-D4999, Type 2s D5000-D6499, Type 3s D6500-D7999, Type 1s D8000-D8999, Type 5s D9000+, the exceptions being the Class 25s in the D75xx range as they'd run out of room in their own range (but not the type 2 range!) and for some unfathomable reason the Class 14s in the D95xx range. You would imagine that the Class 56s, 58s 59s and 60s would have extended the type 5 range skipping over the Class 14s, so 56s: D91xx 58s: D93xx, 59s: D94xx, 60s: D96xx.

Thanks for that, I'd forgotten there was a loose basis to the scheme.

The other notable anomaly was the last few 47s after D1999 - they were D11xx as the D2xxx series was already in use for shunters

[GordonC]

Spotting certainly sounds like a serious business back in the day :-p

 

I'm an 80's child and it was a decidedly unfashionable hobby amongst my crowd of friends back then :-/ I missed the Dxxxx/Tops transition and I never really ranged far on my own, but regular trips to Penzance to help dad put stuff on the mail train, or clothes being dried at the launderette and dad taking me down to the station to pass the time made up the bulk of my number collecting, and regular trips up to Cheltenham. I do remember seeing certain locos almost every time I was on or near a train, the class 37 Tre Pol and Pen, is one that sticks, saw that so many times!

 

My book, if memory serves, was an abc one, with a picture of 89001 on the cover, seem to recall it being the 1989 book of numbers, but if anyone can confirm or correct me...?

 

Asides from my waffling

Is it possible to reverse engineer Tops to Dxxxx numbers? I.E. What range would the 60's or 92's have been in?

 

Dan :-)

 

60s and 92s were long after TOPS was introduced so never had previous numbers

[Rivercider]

Spotting certainly sounds like a serious business back in the day :-p

 

 

Asides from my waffling

Is it possible to reverse engineer Tops to Dxxxx numbers? I.E. What range would the 60's or 92's have been in?

 

Dan :-)

We could have a stab at it I suppose, I don't know what the system was, was there an overall plan?  

there are a number of ways it might have gone, here is my take on it,

 

Deltics class 55 D9000

Class 56   D9200

Class 58   D9400

Class 60   D9600 

 

Now who, in the 1970s, would have predicted a US built class 59 loco arriving on our shores?

I also realise this would not leave enough room for a 57, but who would have predicted that?

 

cheers

[CloggyDog]

ISTR a 2-tone green Class 56 running on a certain green-era diesel shed layout as a D96xx, eh Clive?

 

Other notable anomalies in TOPS renumberings - D8000 became 20050, D8050 became 20128 and D8128 became 20228 - this was done (I believe) to keep them in logical blocks by electrical equipment fit.

 

The condensing of the 350hp d/e shunters took account of all the weird, non-standard engines and electricals (some varieties numbering just 10 examples) which were all weeded out as non-standard pre-TOPS, then numbering the standard EE 6KT ones as 08, the higher-geared ones as 09 and the sizeable quantity of Blackstone-enginned ones as 10 (even though all went before renumbering)

 

And sometimes TOPS class numbers could relate to multiple types - 'Class 05' covered both the Hunslet 204hp 0-6-0 d/ms and the mechanically similar Andrew Barclay 0-6-0 d/ms. Again, all 10 Barclay and all-but-one Hunslet loco had been withdrawn before they could be renumbered.

 

The longer-lived classes got very confusing in later days, with refurbishment, modification, ownership, etc.

[Clive Mortimore]

ISTR a 2-tone green Class 56 running on a certain green-era diesel shed layout as a D96xx, eh Clive?

 

Hi Alan

 

The Class 56 (Brush type 5) is in green with lining like a Peak or Metro-vic. The Class 58 ( BR type 5) is in Clayton or Swindon/Paxman 0-6-0 livery of Sherwood Green cabs with Brunswick Green engine room. My D400 English Electric Type 4 is in Hymek or Deltic livery and the Pocor Type 5 (class 60) will be in two-tone green (it has been in primer for at least 10 years). Without going to the manshed I cannot remember what numbers I have given them. The 60 will be D9999 "Evening Star" as it was the last diesel locomotive built for British Railways.

 

Photos of them have appeared on this site but I cannot remember which thread(s).

[Peter Kazmierczak]

I went to the library in the Westgate Centre in Oxford and copied the renumbering from Modern Railways each month.....Do libraries still have magazines to read or is this now part of history ?

 

We do.

 

i wonder who gets to read it first............