NEW JUNE 2021, amended July 2021. The GER adopted a system for numbering their Works orders which was not particularly intuitive. It started A1, then went B1, C1 and so on. When the alphabet ran out at Z1 the sequence resumed with A2, B2, C2... It is quite well known that these order numbers were used for batches of locomotives, and often the first order number became the designation for that class of engine. It is perhaps less well known that these same order numbers were also used for carriages, wagons, miscellaneous stock (such as horse boxes) and road vehicles.

An important original manuscript book, now the property of the Society, contains information about these orders which, to the best of our knowledge, is no longer available anywhere else.

This book, which came from the Stratford Drawing Office, is entitled ‘Appropriations from Jan 1879’. It records all orders for locomotives, rolling stock and road vehicles placed there from 1879 to the end of building at Stratford in 1924, as well as listing details of other jobs carried out in the Works.

When you purchase this item you will be able to download an ordinary zipped folder. Once you extract the files you will discover there are three of them. The main one is an Excel spreadsheet which provides all the data from the book in black font - including date, order number, what that order was for, and how many of them were to be constructed. In addition, in red font, are clarifications and additional comments provided by Society members Lyn Brooks, Brian McCarthy and John Watling. It contains a lot of information - if you were to print it all out, it would come to well over 200 pages!

The other two files are both PDF's. One is a two-page account by John Watling describing the story of this Appropriations Book: you can also read that HERE. The second provides a bit of guidance to help you to follow the spreadsheet.

When the Society acquired the book it was in poor condition. We have since had it professionally conserved, and it is now at the Essex Record Office as part of the GERS Collection.

The zipped folder will be available to download as soon as payment has been made. You go to your account and click on ‘Downloads’. New customers create an account as they place their order.