Submitting Updates
Firstly many thanks to all those who have sent in updates for the Survey.........Without these this Project would never be able to maintain any sort of comprehensive accuracy.
I would like to point out a few areas where I gather information for updating. This will save all of us time from duplicating updates. I am a member of the Industrial Railway Society and proudly own a copy of the new 15EL (Existing Locomotives). Every two months an amendment list for this publication is issued.
I also belong to their Yahoo Group where many aspects of the industrial scene are discussed including trip reports & changes. This also applies to the Departmentals.com site & Yahoo Group where once again relevant details are discussed. The Vintage Carriage Trust has a survey for Carriages & Wagons with a very useful link for any new updates. I also follow the news updates in Preserved Diesels.
Finally I'd like to express my gratitude to those who have included me in their 'private' email group circulation. If any of you find changes to the Survey, via the above means, then there is no need to let me know as I will pick these up. Thank You.
Submitting Updates: All updates however large or small, are of course welcome & appreciated. I'd like to detail a few areas where caution needs to be exercised. During the summer months many of you will be visiting heritage lines for Gala's & other Special Events. This will nearly always include visiting Locomotives and to a lesser extent other items of stock. If you note a loco not on the list please try to determine whether this is just 'visiting' or a 'permanent resident.' I do not want to keep changing these every few weeks. If you have established it is a regular performer at various lines I can leave it at the Location it is normally based and mark in the 'notes' field 'op for hire' This will suggest if you visit a line and its not there it is on hire elsewhere. If it is on long term hire away from its normal base I will add this to a new location with a comment in the 'notes' field (opb xxxx) until it returns back to its normal base. If you can add any of this info to the list please let me know. I would also like to include the status of all entries eventually, such as operational, stored, under restoration etc. The mainline diesels are covered in an excellent spread sheet available at PLEG. Overall Loco's are widely covered & 'losing' one for very long isn't likely to happen.
Carriages are once again well covered but generate a lessor interest than Loco's. These do move around quite frequently so please let me know of any movements, taking into account the above. Wagons are basically a nightmare. Several Heritage Sites don't have a definitive list of what is actually on their line & often come across something they didn't know they had! Extreme caution needs to be applied here to avoid duplicates & false assumptions. Apart from the well restored items which run in demonstration 'Goods Trains' many carry no I/d's & are often out of sight to the general public and others carry fictitious numbers, usually because the original I/d is unknown. I have made a comment in the notes field detailing the ones I'm aware of. I've been in the position in the past where I've covered a line in its entirety & noted 4 unidentified goods vans and have 5 missing from my list. If they are all the same design then you've got a problem! Has the missing one moved elsewhere, which then creates a duplicate somewhere else? Or has it been scrapped but which one? I currently have on board several volunteers from Heritage Sites who have been an immense help in this area. I hope to have a contact of some kind at all the lines eventually in a bid to tie up all the categories.
For those who are confident they haven't missed anything on a visit, whatever your interest, I do not expect you to send me a time consuming list of everything, apart from any adjustments such as livery etc. If its on the list all well & good. I would be interested in what you didn't note. This gives me an opportunity to try & chase up what was missing & establish what has happened to it.
This is a general guide & by looking through the document you'll see what else needs updating. Above all, enjoy your hobby/interest wherever it takes you.
Something to update? stevescb1966@live.co.uk
