Official Handbook of Stations
Encyclopedia
The Official Handbook of Stations was a large (13"x8", 494 pages) listing all the passenger and goods stations and private sidings on the railways of Great Britain and Ireland. It was published in 1956 by the British Transport Commission
(Railway Clearing House
) and provides an historical snapshot of the railways of the time.
Each station or depot was shown against its County, Railway Region (inc its Pre-grouping company), and parent station. If the station had a crane then its weight limit was also shown in tons & cwt.
In six columns the classes of traffic handled at the station was shown as follows:
Column 1 - G = Goods Traffic
Column 1 - G* = Coal Class, Mineral and Station-to-Station Traffic in Truck Loads.
Column 2 - P = Passenger, Parcels & Miscellaneous Traffic.
Column 2 - P* = Passenger, but not Parcels & Miscellaneous Traffic.
Column 2 - P† = Parcels & Miscellaneous Traffic (i.e. not Passengers).
Column 3 - F = Furniture Vans, Carriages, Motor Cars, Portable Engines and Machines on Wheels.
Column 4 - L = Livestock
Column 5 - H = Horse Boxes and Prize Cattle Vans.
Column 6 - C = Carriages and Motor Cars by Passenger or Parcels Train.
British Transport Commission
The British Transport Commission was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain...
(Railway Clearing House
Railway Clearing House
The British Railway Clearing House was an organisation set up to manage the allocation of revenue collected by numerous pre-grouping railway companies...
) and provides an historical snapshot of the railways of the time.
Each station or depot was shown against its County, Railway Region (inc its Pre-grouping company), and parent station. If the station had a crane then its weight limit was also shown in tons & cwt.
In six columns the classes of traffic handled at the station was shown as follows:
Column 1 - G = Goods Traffic
Column 1 - G* = Coal Class, Mineral and Station-to-Station Traffic in Truck Loads.
Column 2 - P = Passenger, Parcels & Miscellaneous Traffic.
Column 2 - P* = Passenger, but not Parcels & Miscellaneous Traffic.
Column 2 - P† = Parcels & Miscellaneous Traffic (i.e. not Passengers).
Column 3 - F = Furniture Vans, Carriages, Motor Cars, Portable Engines and Machines on Wheels.
Column 4 - L = Livestock
Column 5 - H = Horse Boxes and Prize Cattle Vans.
Column 6 - C = Carriages and Motor Cars by Passenger or Parcels Train.