What's in a number - or what's a nine for?

A curious, and somewhat humorous, situation has come to light. I received a phone call the other night from our hard working signwriter, David Matthews, who wanted to know the correct number to paint on the Mark One second class corridor that Engineering have been repainting. Apparently, it has been running for the last few years as E 24493 whereas David thought that it should be E24993.

I checked the VCT's online Carriage Survey to see what they thought only to find that it gave both numbers! The photograph clearly shows the first number whilst the caption gives the second. Further down the grid of details is the comment "incorrectly painted as 24493". Double checking with Tim Cook's excellent on-line Bucks Railway Centre stockbook confirms this error. So David will reletter it as E 24993.

What puzzles me is how none of us spotted this before! How long has it been incorrect and when was the mistake first made?

You may wish to view the Carriage Survey done jointly by the Vintage Carriage Trust and the National Railway Museum - it covers all the carriages in preservation and they keep it as up to date as possible. The address is www.vintagecarriagestrust.org/se/search.asp The site is searchable by a number of things such as builder, location and coach type - I used Quainton and BR. Wagon and horse drawn surveys are now underway. You may also like to see our on-line stockbook which is at www.brc-stockbook.co.uk. I know Tim will appreciate any feedback you may have. Personally, I believe it is by far the most comprehensive online stockbook anywhere, I have yet to find one that comes close!

A reminder

At the risk of boring repetition may I remind you that there is a member's meeting on Sunday November 1st in Rewley Road at 4.30pm?

Future QELs

This is likely to be the last QEL for a while. As I said in the last one I am moving so my screen will go dark from saturday but hopefully light up again in a week - if the new gadget arrives by then (and I can work out how to make it tick!)

Exec Key Points

The key points of the last meeting of your Trustees, the Executive Committee, are attached. [Future]

Notes:
The text in this Quainton Railway Society publication was written in 2009 and so does not reflect events in the 5+ years since publication. The text is repeated verbatim from the original publication, with only a few minor grammar changes but some clarifying notes are added if deemed necessary.

Reference:
Quainton Email Letter 28.10.09