Coaching stock numbers query

[Bodie]

Hello,

I have just seen 37516 standing in for the book black five steamer on the Inverness - Kyle of Lochalsh leg of the Great British Tour V11

I took down the six carriage numbers as follows:

99723
3058
99122
99316
326 - Emerald
13320

I use AB rail usually to help me out, but I find no mention of 99723, 99122 or 99316 in the list of current numbers, but they are there as previous numbers in the shape of 3106, 35459 and 13321.
The colour of these numbers suggests the 99 prefix was for privately owned coaches and is 'no longer in common use'

I saw those numbers clearly on the side of the carriages. Am I to take it that these carriages are a exception to the rule?

Also 3058 gives a previous number as 975313. I am using quite an old coaching stock book to record my sightings and find no record of either number.
The same for 326, which has a previous number of 99402.

Were these coaches off TOPS in the past?

Thanks

Bodie

 

[starrymarkb]

A lot of heritage stock does not carry their official number on the outside. IIRC Kettles and other heritage stock is in the 98xxx range for official purposes with the number displayed in the cab but the heritage number on the outside.

 

[89-763-733]

Putting the numbers into the search at

http://www.cs.vintagecarriagestrust.org/se/search.asp

will get you all numbers carried by a particular vehicle

 

[sprinterguy]

Much of West Coast Railway Company's mark 1 stock retains numbers in the now obsolete 99xxx private owner series, as a hangover from their previous operators on the main line in the nineties. As I observed in the thread linked to below (but never followed up to find a definitive answer), I believe that many vehicles formerly operated by Waterman Railways were renumbered in the 99xxx series:

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=86138
The 99xxx series is a former number series for private owner coaching stock registered to run on the National network. The number series is now obsolete, but it made a lot more sense in the nineties when the majority of charter stock was owned and operated by British Rail under the Intercity banner.

I'm not completely sure, but I think that West Coast's mark 1s numbered in the 99xxx series are a carry over from their days of employment with Waterman Railways. Possibly.

Various vehicles used in charter rakes do indeed pass in and out of preservation, and hence in and out of TOPS. Following the following link (http://www.cs.vintagecarriagestrust.org/se/CarriageInfo.asp?Ref=1206) for example, vehicle 3058 was formerly preserved on the West Somerset Railway from the late eighties, and is unusual in that it was converted from an FO to a micro-biffet vehicle in preservation, and has since been converted back to a slightly non-standard first open vehicle for use on the main line. It was probably numbered as a member of BRs' departmental fleet, as DB975313, prior to preservation in the eighties.

326 "Emerald" is, in fact, numbered as such in the Pullman Car Company series, and technically entered preservation with the National Railway Museum in 1978 (when displaced from the ECML by the introduction of HSTs). It was only returned to the main line relatively recently.