Private Sidings Department?

[Kulpio]

I have acquired 15 old OS Maps from around 1900 which belonged to the Private Sidings department and have railway lines coloured in and added to private quarries, mines, collieries etc. Largely from Cumberland.

Does anyone know anything about the Private Sidings Department? I'm trying to value the maps but I cant find any info about the department.

Thanks

 

[RichmondCommu]

I have acquired 15 old OS Maps from around 1900 which belonged to the Private Sidings department and have railway lines coloured in and added to private quarries, mines, collieries etc. Largely from Cumberland.

Does anyone know anything about the Private Sidings Department? I'm trying to value the maps but I cant find any info about the department.

Thanks

This might be a stupid question but how do you know that they belonged to the Private Sidings department?

 

[swrailuser]

From what I can see on various historical sources the Private sidings dept were a division of the LNWR that managed the interconnection of company sidings to the LNWR main lines.

 

[AndrewE]

This might be a stupid question but how do you know that they belonged to the Private Sidings department?

Perhaps a "Private Sidings department" rubber stamp on each plan?

 

[infobleep]

Would you be able to take a photo of part of one of the maps to show what they look like and post it here?

Old professionally coloured in maps would be worth something but if it was just an owner scribbling on the maps then less so.

However because the markings related to railways, I suspect that adds a level of interest greater than there otherwise would be, no matter what kind of markings they are.

Thats just my opinion as a collector of maps, rather than someone who buys and sells them for a living.

Are the maps of thick paper, almost card like? Do they have the marginalia, that is publication and survey dates and key.

 

[Kulpio]

Would you be able to take a photo of part of one of the maps to show what they look like and post it here?

Old professionally coloured in maps would be worth something but if it was just an owner scribbling on the maps then less so.

However because the markings related to railways, I suspect that adds a level of interest greater than there otherwise would be, no matter what kind of markings they are.

Thats just my opinion as a collector of maps, rather than someone who buys and sells them for a living.

Are the maps of thick paper, almost card like? Do they have the marginalia, that is publication and survey dates and key.

They are cloth back, but 6inch pieces attached to.

 

[Kulpio]

This might be a stupid question but how do you know that they belonged to the Private Sidings department?

Each are signed to the reverse

 

[dubscottie]

It could be a section of the railway clearing house? They produced maps showing all lines not just one company.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Clearing_House

 

[30907]

The colour coding for the "main line" is very similar to that in a RCH map in my possession, and so is the way the sheets fold.

 

[John Webb]

Most railway companies had a department/section dealing with privately owned sidings connected to their lines. That, after all, was where much of the goods traffic originated, particularly from quarries and mines. We are aware of correspondence regarding private sidings off the Midland Railway's 'London Extension' as a result of research into the history of St Albans South signal box and related matters.

 

[Waldgrun]

I feel that there is a BIG CLUE in the second photo of the set of four, The wording "Private sidings Department-Euston" Which also fits with details of the lines shown on the maps! As L.N.W.R. (London North Western Railway) who's headquarters where at London Euston Station. So I would say it might be in order to contact the LNWR Society http://www.lnwrs.org.uk

 

[infobleep]

They are cloth back, but 6inch pieces attached to.

Thanks for sharing the photos. Really interesting.

Nice to see they are backed on cloth, as many maps were back then.

They would have been cut up and mounted by the seller of the maps, rather than the Ordnance Survey, as originally the OS didn't cut up and mount their own maps. They only did so later, when they started selling dissected on cloth editions of their maps. This was more for their 1" inch series though. These editions ceased to be published in the 60s.

The maps would definitely be collectable. I don't know for certain what their value would be but surely at least £10 per map to the right collector, if not more. I'm not an expert map seller though, I just buy them.