GWR shed numbers?

[Bluemonkey presents....]

Hi All,

Please excuse my ignorance on the subject but I am aware of numerous shed numbers and wondered where they originated from. Did all stations with a shed have them? If so, I was wondering what numbers were allocated to; Reading, Swindon, Chippenham and Bristol TM?

Thank you in advance for any help.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Hello and welcome to the Group.

 

Are you referring to the situation in GWR days (before 1948), or after the nationalisation of Britain's railways?

 

Not every station had a loco shed attached; quite the reverse in fact. Some stations, like Bristol Temple Meads had a shed adjacent to the station, whilst other loco sheds (eg Old Oak Common in London) would be many miles from the main station it served.

 

In the case of the sheds you mention:

 

Reading GWR Shed No = 121, Code (carried on loco) = RDG, BR code = 81D

 

Swindon GWR Shed No = 132, Code = SDN, BR code = 82C

Chippenham GWR Shed No = 62; was a sub-shed of Swindon and didn't have its own code

 

Bristol Bath Road GWR Shed No = 22, Code = BRD, BR code = 82A

 

Regards,

Peter

[fender]

this site is BR focused, but it has some info on pre-BR shed codes. not sure if that answers your question on where they 'originated from' but hopefully it'll be of some help. you can see that the codes, at least in BR days, were related. for example, sheds in the SW began with 83.

 

http://www.brdatabase.info/sites.php?page=depots&action=list

[90171]

The pre-BR info on the brdatabase website may not be quite accurate:- I am using the L&Y R as an example, but very likely other railways were similar

 

It seems that the pre-Grouping railway companies simply numbered their engine sheds in sequence (as one might expect). Eric Mason records that the L&Y had 32 engine sheds by 1919, numbered 1 to 32.

The sheds were grouped into Districts, and there were 16 Districts which reduced to 8 in 1920, so that each District had a chief shed with typically 3 to 5 other sheds.

 

Later on, after the railway Grouping, the sheds in each District all took the same number, but with a varying alphabetical suffix. So that Accrington / Rose Grove / Colne / Lower Darwen / Hellifield which had been L&Y 22 / 23 /24 / 25 / 26 became LMS  24A / 24B / 24C /24D (Hellifield closed 1927). (These seem to be the numbers quoted on the brdatabase website)

 

I have no information on the GWR system pre-nationalisation, but it seems that the LMS system of numbering in groups was extended across BR from 1948

LMR  1A to 28B

ER 30A to 41K

NER 50A to 56G

ScR 60A to 68E

SR 70A to 75G

WR 81A to 89D

[melmerby]

As at nationalisation GWR Sheds were organised into 9 divisions, numbered 1-9. This was the last number in the 2 or 3 digit code.

1 = London

2 = Bristol

3 = Newton Abbot

4 = Wolverhampton

5 = Worcester

6 = Newport

7 = Neath

8 = Cardiff Valleys

9 = Oswestry

 

The other one or two digits  (in front) were allocated in alphabetical order e.g. 11 is Aylesbury, the first London Division code (1+1), 181 is Winchester, the last (18+1)

The locos however carried an abbreviated form of the name of the depot! To confuse things futher some of the sheds were known by other names e.g. Old Oak Common was PDN (Paddington)

 

BR took the Divisions 1 - 9 and prefixed them with 8, then allocated the sheds, generally in importance, from A - Z, so Old Oak Common (GWR 101) became 81A

A large shed such as Tyseley only became 84E although it was fairly important with workshop facilities.

 

Hope that makes it clear

 

Keith

 

Edited for further clarification!

[Bluemonkey presents....]

Thank you one and all, most helpful.