Whistle

[theatre]

Hi found on old whistle connected to the railway, an Acme Thunderer, on one side are the letters GCR and on the other side P WAY 1618. Does anyone know what 1618 means?

 

[Gloster]

1618 could be the railway inventory number and all whistles of that type would have 1618 on them so that if you needed to order one, you knew which part number to put on the requisition form. It is unlikely that such a minor piece of equipment would be individually numbered, i.e. each one having its own number so that J.Smith was issued with (and probably signed for) number 1618. Or it might just have been the Acme whistle company’s stock number for that particular design; it might just be because whistles supplied to the GCR had the company’s initials on it and that meant a different stock number to ones supplied to other railway companies with their initials stamped on. (Presumably it is the pre-1923 GCR, not the modern one.)

 

[Ashley Hill]

Issued to a person or gang in the Great Central Railways Permanent Way department. Occasionally whistles were used instead of the more usual horn by a lookout man to warn workers of approaching trains.

 

[theatre]

1618 could be the railway inventory number and all whistles of that type would have 1618 on them so that if you needed to order one, you knew which part number to put on the requisition form. It is unlikely that such a minor piece of equipment would be individually numbered, i.e. each one having its own number so that J.Smith was issued with (and probably signed for) number 1618. Or it might just have been the Acme whistle company’s stock number for that particular design; it might just be because whistles supplied to the GCR had the company’s initials on it and that meant a different stock number to ones supplied to other railway companies with their initials stamped on. (Presumably it is the pre-1923 GCR, not the modern one.)

Thank you for your information