Inserting amendments to paper rule book

[Ken H]

I have a 1950's rule book that the owner kept up to date with amendments. The amendments applied are listed in the front endpapers.
I assume a booklet was issued with printed amendments that would be stuck in the rule book. Some bits were simply pasted over the original text. Other bits involved sheets that were lift up flaps that sat over the original page but could be lifted to see the still in force text behind it. Some of the flap stuff is quite complex origami so they fold away in the book.
I am trying to scan it - nightmare

Was there a procedure for doing this? Did the amendments booklets have detailed instructions?

I cant find a rule in the book about applying amendments but maybe I missed it.

 

[Ashley Hill]

You were expected to keep your own rule book up to date. How it was done was down to the individual. Some cut and pasted the amendments from notices produced,whilst others wrote them in (unless lengthy). From the 1972 onwards the less conscientious could wait for the occasional book of amendments to be published where entire pages could be replaced.

 

[4069]

No, there were no instructions. You were expected to use your initiative to produce a usable amended book.

 

[Railsigns]

Did the amendments booklets have detailed instructions?

The amendments came with instructions, albeit not detailed instructions. See example below:

 

[Ken H]

The amendments came with instructions, albeit not detailed instructions. See example below:

View attachment 177325

Great help!
Gosh. So the amendments to the 1950 issue went on for 12 years. Then I assume an amended version came out and the process went on for another 18+ years.

My book is only amended to the mid 1950's

 

[Gloster]

Each member of staff was issued with a rule book and was also sent the updates on a personal basis: they didn’t just leave a pile for you to pick up from. For new entrants somebody in the local clerical section (me, for a brief period) had to to prepare a book with all the amendment sheets ready to insert: I didn’t have to do the work, just check that they had everything that they needed to do the job.

The 1972 Signalling Regulations required you to either alter or cross out items, or to stick bits of paper in. Sometimes the new bit of paper was too long and stuck out at one side, so it had to be folded over and was at risk of tearing. Even more of a nuisance was when the replacement text was longer (more lines) than the original, so you could only glue one end of the replacement in the narrow margin to avoid covering up the item above or below. Sometimes the new item didn’t come as a special insert or notice, but just appeared in the Weekly Operating Notice (K2 on the Western Region).

Originally I conscientiously Tippexed out the old items, but later I just used a drawing pen and ruler to cross out everything thoroughly. Some people went as far as writing in the issue number of the amendment sheet, but I only did that for the K2 items.

 

[Ken H]

Here is the list of amendments apied from the front of my book.
Also page 268 where an amendment has been applied which can be folded away

My pix. Feel free to reuse

 

[Pyewipecarshed]

When I first entered a grade that required a rule book in 2007 it was still updated by gluing amendments over the original text; this could range from one paragraph to a full page, and sometimes you would have to glue a new page in as a flap because part of the original underneath would still be current.
Only if there were a large number of amendments would the full module be reissued.
It was sometime in the 2010s that they finally began reissuing the full module every time there was a change.

 

[Lloyds siding]

When I started, as the youngest member of staff, it was my job to do this: to update books of legislation and instruction handbooks. I did this in central government and then in local government. The way it was done depended on what the volumes were like. Legislation just had the new act and its consequences (usually repeals or amendments of exisiting legislation), you then needed to go through the old acts and delete the repealed sections (as the instruction above states, and other have said, cross it out neatly with ruler and pen....you may need to refer to the old legislation because any existing court cases or appeals would be on the basis of the original legislation.
For the book of instructions: these were ring bound loose leaf files...it included instructions on how to update, usually by replacing pages with newly printed ones from the update pack, however sometimes it may be deletion of a word or a spelling correction, this would just tell you to alter it by hand.
These sort of procedures were commonplace for organisations with important official instructions. The manner in which it was done varied with the conscientiousness of the staff involved and whether their boss was sending the full set of instructions through. The B.R Rule Book was a relatively small hard back book and must have been a nightmare to keep updated (as people have noted).

 

[Gloster]

I am fairly sure that when I started in 1978 the Rule Book was already a plastic-covered loose-leaf book where all but the smallest amendment was dealt with by unscrewing the two securing fasteners and replacing the whole sheet. It was another couple of years before the Signalling Regulations and (I think) the General Appendix appeared as ring-binders.

 

[John Webb]

I am fairly sure that when I started in 1978 the Rule Book was already a plastic-covered loose-leaf book where all but the smallest amendment was dealt with by unscrewing the two securing fasteners and replacing the whole sheet. It was another couple of years before the Signalling Regulations and (I think) the General Appendix appeared as ring-binders.

The copy of the October 1972 Rule Book I've got (purchased second-hand) is as you describe. The copy I bought has a thick wodge of around forty pages of amendments dating from 1978 which the previous owner never got round to inserting in his copy!

 

[edwin_m]

I am fairly sure that when I started in 1978 the Rule Book was already a plastic-covered loose-leaf book where all but the smallest amendment was dealt with by unscrewing the two securing fasteners and replacing the whole sheet. It was another couple of years before the Signalling Regulations and (I think) the General Appendix appeared as ring-binders.

In 1987 mine was too, but I tend to think most of the individual amendments needed some cutting and pasting in the pre-IT sense, rather than replacing whole pages.

I recall thinking how it was a classic example of "cost of everything, value of nothing" that several thousand employees were expected to spend the time doing this (plus the risk of errors), using tape and glue which no doubt came from someone else's budget, just to save a bit of paper.

 

[Dr Hoo]

As a supervisor back in the era of the ‘amendments slip’ system, it was a great time filler for an often quieter night shift. At least it was a good way of ensuring that you literally did the the original and new wording side by side and had the opportunity to reflect on what changes were being made. It was a good basis for asking staff how they understood the changes. A common practice at annual Rules Examinations was to ask staff to produce or bring their publications for inspection rather than just an oral exam. Woe betide the employee who turned up with pristine and out-of-date books.

It was drummed into me that publications should always be ‘well-thumbed’ as a sign of a conscientious staff member in a safety critical role. I remember chuckling to myself during my own rules exam when the rather aloof Area Manager wasn’t satisfied with one of my answers to a signalling question and got out his own mint condition green ‘block book’ to check. As he tried to flick to the relevant section it was obvious that the pages hadn’t even been ‘cut’ or ‘split’ and it wouldn’t open.