Help with understanding coach info from RCTS book.

[Clagsniffer]

Hi, as the title suggests, im looking for help to try and understand the info given in my 1978 copy of "Coaching stock of British Railways". Ive got to grips with the info to do with the standard coaching stock, however its the section regarding GUV's that has me at a loss.

 

I understand that the letter infront of the vehicle number tells me what braking type is fitted to that particular van. For example, aW86807, is fitted with air brakes. Similarly xW86665jr is dual braked. Any vehicle that doesnt have a letter before the number has vacuum brakes. Am I looking at this correctly?

 

Its the letters that follow the vehicle number which I do not understand, and specifically how they relate to the TOPS code of the van. The book states the following;

 

NK is specifically for brute cicuit use.

NL is for newspaper traffic.

NX is for motorail.

NJ and NI make up the remainder, many of which have hinged beams but are not designated for brute use. NJ are electric wired and NI are without electric wiring.

 

Depending which catagory the van fits in has a corresponding letter added after the vehicle number. For example, E86097x. As the number has no letters at the start this means it is vacuum braked, and the x at the end means it is for motorail traffic. Is this correct? If so would the TOPS code of this van therefore be NXV?

 

The real complication for me comes with the second letter is added at the end of the vehicle number. The following info is given regarding this second letter;

 

d is for dual heated.

e is for electric heated.

r is for steam piped and electric wired.

u is for no heating connections.

w is for electric wired only.

 

So heres another example. xW86669jr. So the x at the start indicates it is dual braked, the letter j indicates it is electric wired and the r indicates steam piped and electric wired. So would this vehicle have the TOPS code NJX? One final example, M86971Ld. No added letters at the start indicates vacuum brakes, the L indicates newspaper traffic and the d indicates dual heated. Would the TOPS code be NLV? Not sure ive seen that code before so im really not sure.

 

If anyone could shed any light on this subject, wether to tell me ive been looking at the info correctly or to tell me where im going wrong I would appreciate it.

 

Thanks.

[stovepipe]

Yes I think you have that about right. There are around 15 possible TOPS codes for GUVs:

NKV NKX NKA

NLV NLX NLA

NXV NXX NXA

NIV NIX NIA

NJV NJX NJA

 

though in practice some codes may have been little used. For instance the NI codes seem to quickly disappear with many converted to newspaper vans in the 855xx series, coded NLX, or withdrawn.

 

There were/are other brake codes available in TOPS but I don't think they were much used in relation to GUVs.