Can someone explain the british rail carriage/train numbering system?

Question

I think I have the way its numbered then I see another train that throws the theory out

Please help :)

Answer 1

in the 60's the carriages had letter before the number for example S means it is a southern region coach M Midlands W Western SC Scottish E Eastern then you had the number which would of been E9124E normally 4 numbers in later years BR went on to using just numbers as for units say you had a 3 car unit the number would of been 3501 3502 2503 but the the unit was changed i.e a coach broke down and was replaced with another one the numbering would be different and not in sequence.

Answer 2

TOPS is an acronym for “Total Operations Processing System”. It is a computer system for managing the locomotives and rolling stock (railroad cars) owned by a rail system. It was originally developed by the Southern Pacific Railroad and was widely sold; it is best known in the UK for its use by British Rail.

See link for more..

Answer 3

The late David Jenkinson was an expert on this stuff and wrote many books on this subject when he worked at the Nation Rail Museum in York UK try and Google his stuff or borrow from a library.

Answer 4

Best get hold of a copy of a Locospotters' Book by Ian Allan. These list locos, carriages, multiple units, etc. also freight wagons, maintenance vehicles.

In BR days the carriages were numbered according to region. 1 or 2 letters preceded the number, i.e. Western Region (W), Southern Region (S), Eastern (E), London Midland (M), North Eastern (NE), Scottish (SC).

If the carriage dated from before 1948, i.e. before nationalisation, the number would be followed by another letter to denote its previous owner (S = Southern, W = Great Western, E = London & North Eastern, M = London, Midland & Scottish).

Multiple units carried numbers according to the class of unit. Within each unit the individual vehicles carried their own numbers. On the Southern Railway and BR (S) sets of loco hauled carriages were also numbered.

This is still the case today with multiple units but carriages no longer have the regional numbers. They are still numbered in series according to type, thus you can identify the vehicle from its number.

As Polo says the system is known as TOPS and has been in use in Britain since the early 1970's. On locomotives the first 2 figures are the class while the last 3 are the number within the class, e.g. 66 066, the last 3 figures often being repeated on the front of the loco.

Before TOPS was introduced the system for diesel and electric locomotives was similar to that used for steam, except that diesel locomotives with a few exceptions had a 'D' prefix and electric locomotives an 'E'. However unlike the steam locomotive numbering which was based more or less on the regions, diesel and electric locos were not numbered according to region as most of them were designed to be used anywhere.

Freight wagons are again numbered according to class of wagon and increasingly they are being given international markings so as to be fully compatible with railways at the other end of the Channel Tunnel.

Locos and rolling stock with the older styles of numbering can still be seen on Heritage Railways.

Answer 5

Newer trains are a confused mess and the train companies don't have a clue themselves.

The old slam door carriages are far simpler. When the railways where nationalised and before the private companies came and took over, British Rail had all the trains and had regular ones run regular routes. As the privatisation took hold, the carriages ended up being split between companies and being thrown out of sync. (ie carriage 3607, 3608, 3610, 3611 make up Train A from London to Newcastle, Train B is made up of 3178, 3594, 3609, 4422 heading from London To Brighton. Two companies own certain carriages that frequent there lines when privatised).

Answer 6

I'm not sure I quite understand your question. Multiple Units - which are trains which are powered without the use of a locomotive - are numbered in classes. So a 'set' will bear a class number - for example, the Electrostars which provide many of the services where I live in Sussex are Class 375. Then each set will have its own unique number - so the front will say, e.g. 375 (class) 150 (set number). Within each set, the carriages have their own individual numbers, but that becomes a little arcane and understandable only by extreme nerds in need of therapy!

For a complete list of the class numbers of Electrical Multiple Units see:

http://www.therailwaycentre.com/Resource...

Now, don't ask why modern stock is numbered in the 300s and old slam door in the 400s,however.

For diesel mus see:-

http://www.therailwaycentre.com/New%20TR...

Finally trains have 'reporting' numbers for signalling and control purposes. For more information on this see the wikipedia entry:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headcode