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Drawings and papers from railway works and companies

Working drawings for steam locos, carriages and wagons.

We have hundreds of thousands of drawings for steam locomotives and rolling stock, dating from the mid-19th century to the early 1960s. (We don't have many drawings of diesel and electric locomotives, because they've been retained by British Rail.)

The PDF files in each section list the works and drawings we have. The lists may not be complete. If you are having trouble opening them, try rightclicking and saving the document to your computer and making sure the file is named '.pdf' at the end.

PDFs marked (microfilm) list images that have been put on microfilm aperture cards by the former Oxford Publishing Company OPC. An aperture card is a card mounted with a piece of microfilm.) They overlap with the main drawings lists, and don't necessarily contain everything from the named collection.

If you'd like to access something from our archives, see Search Engine. To order a copy of a drawing, see our copying service page.

Drawing registers
Drawing Registers list

Oxford Publishing Company microfilm collection
Oxford Publishing Company drawing list (track plans)
Oxford Publishing Company drawing list

Ashford Works
Ashford Works drawing list (microfilm)

Bow Works
Intoduction to Bow Works drawing list
Bow Works drawing list

Brighton Works
Brighton Works drawings list (microfilm)

Curzon Street Station London and Birmingham Station
Curzon Street Station drawing list

Darlington Locomotive Works
Darlington Locomotive Works drawing list

Darlington Shildon collection
52 plans of the equipment and layout of the new works at the Stockton and Darlington Railway Company, 18491865. This list isn't currently available.

Derby Carriage and Wagon Works
Introduction to Derby Carriage & Wagon Works drawing list
Derby Carriage & Wagon Works drawing list (Main Collection)

Derby Locomotive Works
Introduction to Derby Locomotive Works drawing list (microfilm)
Introduction to Derby Locomotive Works drawing lists
Derby Locomotive Works drawing list (Alphabetical)
Derby Locomotive Works drawing list (BR Standard Drawings)
Derby Locomotive Works drawing list (Crewe Origin Drawings)
Derby Locomotive Works drawing list (Main Series)
Derby Locomotive Works drawing list (Numerical)
Derby Locomotive Works drawing list (microfilm)
LMS Class 8P Coronation Duchess Pacific 4-6-2 drawing list (microfilm)

Eastleigh Works
Eastleigh Works drawing list (microfilm)
There are also 1600 drawings of works plant and machinery, layout etc, plus maintenance files, repair schedules and so on. These are currently being listed. Limited access.

Filey Station
Filey Station archive catalogue

Gorton Works
Introduction to Gorton Works drawing lists
Gorton Works drawing list (Aperture cards)
Gorton Works drawing list (Contractors drawing sets)
Gorton Works drawing list (LNER drawings)
Gorton Works drawing list (microfilm)

Great Western Railway Civil Engineer’s Office Paddington
A small series of drawings of various bridges, crossings etc., mostly divided into various folders. List not currently available. Requires sorting, but some parts may be available.

Highbridge Works
Introduction to Highbridge Works drawing list
Highbridge Works Drawings List

Horwich Works
The Horwich drawings are currently in offsite storage and are not available.
Introduction to Horwich Works drawing list
Horwich Locomotive Works Drawing list

London and North Eastern Railway Carriage and Wagon drawings
Introduction to LNER C&W drawing lists
LNER C&W list (York, Cowlairs, Hull & Stratford)
LNER C&W drawing list (Darlington Works)
LNER C&W drawing list (Doncaster Works)
LNER C&W drawing list (Gorton Works)
LNER C&W drawings list (Diagrams)

London Midland and Scottish Railway Carriage and Wagon
LMS carriage and wagon drawing list

Longhedge Works
Longhedge Works tyre and axle drawings list

Melton Constable Works
Intoduction to Melton Constable Works drawing list
Melton Constable Works drawing list

Midland Railway Extension
Introduction to Midland Railway extension drawing list
Midland Railway Extension drawing list

Newton Heath Works
Carriage and wagon drawings, mostly from the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway period, 1880s to 1930s. Note that Newton Heath drawings are also included in the LMS Carriage and Wagon collection.

North Eastern Railway and London and North Eastern Railway Company
Introduction to NER & LNER Civil Engineering drawing list
NER & LNER Civ Eng Drawing list
NER & LNER Civ Eng drawing list (New Bridge Goods Station)

Plaistow Works
Introduction to Plaistow Works drawing list
Plaistow Works Drawings list

Southern Railway Carriage and Wagon
An amalgamated collection from the various works of the SR. NB – currently being listed, not yet available.
Introduction to Southern Railway sketches & other drawing list (microfilm)
Southern Railway Works Sketches & Other Drawing list (microfilm)

Southern Railway Locomotive
Southern Railway drawing list (Ashford Works Drawings)
Southern Railway drawing list (Brighton Works Drawings)
Southern Railway drawing list (Eastleigh Works Drawings)
Southern Railway drawing list (Works Composite)
Merchant Navy West Country Battle of Britain class 4-6-2 drawing list

Stoke Works
Introduction to Stoke Works drawing lists
Stoke Works drawing list (C&W Drawings)
Stoke Works drawing list (Locomotive drawings)
Stoke Works drawing list (Sketches)
Stoke Works drawing list (microfilm)

Swindon Works Drawings
The Swindon Works archive is currently being sorted and assessed, and will gradually be made available over the next couple of years. However it may not be possible to make it all available due to large numbers of drawings being on very fragile tracing paper.

Wolverton Carriage and Wagon Works
Intro to Wolverton carriage & wagon works & archive catalogue
Intro to Wolverton archive catalogue & archive list (Word)

Drawings and papers from railway works and companies

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