Plates - Can anyone tell me what they mean?

[camperdown9]

Hi All

Is there a standard format for iron plates? I mean do round plates mean something and square plates something else?

I bought a couple of plates from eBay and I was wonder is someone could tell me what they mean or where they might be from?

The first one I know nothing about. I am guessing that it was issued by London, Midland and Scottish Railways in 1940. And that is something to do with weight restriction. But does the number 168140 mean anything and did it come from rolling stock or where?

The second one was advertised on eBay as being from "Mk.1 SLSTP, in the number range 2607 - 2658". Is there anyway of confirming this?

Is there a list online somewhere that tells how to read these plates. If I understand correctly they were't always on trains.

Last question. Where on rolling stock would these be placed and are they still in use today?

Alex

 

[pdeaves]

Last question. Where on rolling stock would these be placed and are they still in use today?

Usually placed on the underframe. Most 'old' vehicles will still have them, 'new' ones don't any more. I am not going to try to define the cutoff between 'old' and 'new'!

 

[edwin_m]

The first one is a plate off a private owner wagon, confirming that it was certified by the LMS to meet the standards for running on the national network (there was a reciprocal arrangement which would then have allowed it to go onto any other company's tracks). "Private" just denotes not being owned directly by one of the railway companies, by 1940 all "private owner" wagons were under government control so the owner might not actually have been private. The site below is unfortunately not linkable to individual pages, but if you go to "Historical Background" then "The Railway Clearing House" you will find more background and a plate similar to yours but issued by the LNER.

http://www.igg.org.uk/

The second is evidently from Wolverton which was predominantly a carriage works. I'm sure there are records of Lot numbers somewhere but I don't know of one online. According to the link below SLSTP is a second class sleeper with twin berths and pantry, which would have been part of the Mk1 fleet withdrawn in the 1980s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_coach_designations

 

[Ploughman]

I believe 317s were the last units to have a cast builders plate.
After them they became small badges stuck to the interior somewhere.