I am now in posession of the BR van evicted from Clare goods shed museum, which we need to move to a new secure location for restoration. The haulier wants to know the unladen weight, and I wonder if someone can explain the data panel shown in the photo? The bottom line, below “PE 26.2.81 3528” which is partly obscured in the photo, reads “DO 14.6.79 6193”. Do these numbers refer to tare weights? 

Those are dates when an operation was performed on the van followed by the four digit code of the works or location that did the work.

According to Don Rowland's book British Railways wagons B766738 is to diagram 1/208.

From the Freight Rolling Stock diagram book* diag 1/208 had a Tare of 7Tons 11cwt.don't understand how to make it uniform.

* many BR diagrams are downloadable from the Barrowmore Model Railway Group website at
 www.barrowmoremrg.co.uk/Prototype.html

Sorry about the mix of fonts etc, but I don't know how to make it uniform.

John S. from 33820, St Ciers sur Gironde, France
GERS 197
 

John, very many thanks, I was wondering if the two letter codes, IR, BO, R, PE, DO could be TOPS depot codes? ..but then there is “Lift”?
Thanks for the diag number, it would seem then that the last tare the van had was 7,250 Kg as on the left side under “VVV”. Info I have is that the van was bought from March in 1985 or 86, and here is a photo of the opening as a museum on 25 March 1986..

As a guess I'd suggest that the two letter codes refer to a maintenance activity.

7,250kg seems a tad on the low side as 7T 11cwt comes out as 7,671kg.  However not all wagons that were built to a diagram weighed exactly the same, there is always a window of weights so 7,250 may be correct.

John S. from 33820, St Ciers sur Gironde, France
GERS 197

Could the word “Lift” on the data panel be anything to do with the London International Freight Terminal?  The dates fit. However non- capitalisation of i, f & t doesn’t quite ring.

Just a thought.

A brief explanation of the codes on wagon data panels is given here:-

quornwagonandwagon.co.uk/2020/05/10/feat...ds-vehicle-markings/

Evidently there was some variation.

D