NA Page Check Closure Letters

[Andy873]

Well, I ordered a page check from the NA last week regarding letters concerning the closure of the stations on the loop line, demolition, bridge removal etc - 88 pages in total! and a price to match...

The strange thing is, the NA say they are A3 size not A4? Perhaps there's some maps, drawings there?

As to what is in them, well I'll find out as I will purchase a copy of them as it's a special anniversary coming up - 10 years marking the start of my research of the loop line.

 

[Gloster]

Don’t be surprised if a lot of them turn out to be nothing more than acknowledgements of letters received or a response that they have passed the buck, sorry, referred the matter to someone else. Such it always was.

 

[D6130]

Sorry....but what's the NA?

 

[Clarence Yard]

National Archives.

 

[D6130]

National Archives.

Many thanks!

 

[Andy873]

Don’t be surprised if a lot of them turn out to be nothing more than acknowledgements of letters received or a response that they have passed the buck, sorry, referred the matter to someone else. Such it always was.

Yes, from what you and others have said that's very likely.

Towards the end of this month I will place the order with the NA, I would have thought somewhere buried in the 88 pages will be some letters that will help me to firm up key dates and the process of closing the line.

Would anyone be interested in reading my findings when I get them?

 

[WesternLancer]

Well, I ordered a page check from the NA last week regarding letters concerning the closure of the stations on the loop line, demolition, bridge removal etc - 88 pages in total! and a price to match...

The strange thing is, the NA say they are A3 size not A4? Perhaps there's some maps, drawings there?

As to what is in them, well I'll find out as I will purchase a copy of them as it's a special anniversary coming up - 10 years marking the start of my research of the loop line.

This might be wrong as it’s just a guess. But could they by A3 because the originals are on foolscap paper which is a little bit bigger than A4 size?

I know I’ve occasionally photocopied old foolscap pages and the copier has defaulted to selecting A3 paper.

 

[Andy873]

This might be wrong as it’s just a guess. But could they by A3 because the originals are on foolscap paper which is a little bit bigger than A4 size?

That's a very good thought. All I know at the moment is the NA look like they are only charging the usual rate for A4 copies, so it could very well be these letters are only slightly larger than the modern A4 paper size.

 

[Belperpete]

This might be wrong as it’s just a guess. But could they by A3 because the originals are on foolscap paper which is a little bit bigger than A4 size?

I know I’ve occasionally photocopied old foolscap pages and the copier has defaulted to selecting A3 paper.

If you just copy foolscap to A4, you can lose an inch or so off the bottom of the page, which can contain important information (you typically lose the last line or two of typewritten text, the page number and any scribbled notes added by the recipient). Where I worked, at one time we had a photocopier with a setting for reducing foolscap to A4, but modern photocopiers don't seem to have this feature. I suspect because photocopying foolscap must be a fairly niche job these days.

It is not as easy as you may first think, with double sided documents.

 

[WesternLancer]

If you just copy foolscap to A4, you can lose an inch or so off the bottom of the page, which can contain important information (you typically lose the last line or two of typewritten text, the page number and any scribbled notes added by the recipient). Where I worked, at one time we had a photocopier with a setting for reducing foolscap to A4, but modern photocopiers don't seem to have this feature. I suspect because photocopying foolscap must be a fairly niche job these days.

It is not as easy as you may first think, with double sided documents.

Yes, exactly the problem I noticed when dealing with old documents extracted from files that were on foolscap

 

[stuving]

If you just copy foolscap to A4, you can lose an inch or so off the bottom of the page, which can contain important information (you typically lose the last line or two of typewritten text, the page number and any scribbled notes added by the recipient). Where I worked, at one time we had a photocopier with a setting for reducing foolscap to A4, but modern photocopiers don't seem to have this feature. I suspect because photocopying foolscap must be a fairly niche job these days.

It is not as easy as you may first think, with double sided documents.

I suspect copiers (i.e. multifunction printers) these days can do this quite easily - if you poke about in the control menu enough to find it. My Canon all-in-one lets you select foolscap originals and will autoscale to the paper to be used (and it's fully two-sided). I'm sure big professional ones will be able to do so too, though TNA may digitise and print separately.

But TNA will say the documents being digitised are "up to and including size A3" because that's how they price the work. It only costs more if they are "size greater than A3" - they will have to use a bigger machine.