LNWR Glossary

Glossary Results for prefix "se"

Second Class	The Second Passenger Class was abandoned first by the Midland Railway, then by the Great Western and Caledonian and eventually by all railways (except for Continental boat trains) until third class was re-named second under nationalisation. The LNWR abolished second class (except for certain services in the London area) on 1st January 1912, and was one of the later companies to do so. The Caledonian Railway had abolished second class from 1st May 1893, and from that date no second class accommodation was provided on through Anglo-Scottish services. In 1910 north-to-west trains with through carriages for the Central Wales line were three-class for Central Wales and two-class for the West of England. See Passenger Class.
Section	A length of track that is used as a unit of train control. I.e. only one train is normally allowed into a Section when working Absolute Block System.
Section Signal	A signal governing access to the section ahead.
Semaphore signal	A railway signal which normally displayed a horizontal board or arm to indicate danger (‘On’), and an angled arm (normally between 30 and 45 degrees from the horizontal) to indicate line ‘Clear’ (‘Off’). One variant was the slotted post signal, where the arm was concealed inside the post at ‘off’; another (common on the Great Northern Railway)was the ‘somersault’ signal, in which the arm was pivoted centrally and was vertical at ‘off’.
Semi-Royal Saloon	A saloon carriage available for private hire and sometimes attached to the Royal Train when additional accommodation was required.
Shed	An abbreviation for loco or locomotive shed; usually referred to as a steam shed pre 1923. A shed was the base to which each locomotive was allocated and which was responsible for routine maintenance, coaling, oiling and minor repairs.
Shed Code	From 1863 each locomotive shed was given an identifying number (the “shed code”) which was displayed on the shed plate of the locomotives it maintained.
Shed Foreman	The manager/supervisor in charge of an engine shed. This was a salaried position. Traditionally foremen wore a bowler hat.
Shed Plate	Each locomotive carried a small elliptical plate (at first enamelled and later cast) bearing the shed code of the shed to which it was allocated for maintenance. The plate was first carried on the weather board of the locomotive, later on the rear facing edge of the half-cab and finally on the smoke-box door or buffer beam.
Shell	Famous company, originally founded in 1881 as the Shell Transport and Trading Company to import exotic decorative sea shells, soon changed direction to focus on paraffin oil distribution and in 1907 joined forces with the Royal Dutch Oil Company, an oil producer. An important supplier of lubricants to the railways, and enabled certain technical developments such as superheating and improved oil-filled axle-boxes which would not have otherwise been possible. A locomotive would typically consume several litres of lubricating oil on each journey.
Shell Ventilators	Ventilators fitted to carriage roofs intended, like Laycock’s (or torpedo) ventilators, to admit or extract air; they were named from their superficial resemblance to scallop shells. This pattern was not used by the LNWR.
Shop Grey	New engines were often painted in “photographic grey” for official photographs because some colours, particularly reds, were not represented adequately in the grey scale of film emulsions until panchromatic films and plates became available.
Shrewsbury & Hereford Railway	The Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway was authorised by Parliament in 1846 and completed in 1851 as an independent railway. It was leased jointly by the LNWR and GWR from 1862 and was transferred to joint ownership in 1868.
Shrewsbury & Welshpool Railway	This line diverged from the Shrewsbury and Hereford about three quarters of a mile south of Shrewsbury passenger station and ran to a junction at Buttington on the Cambrian line, north of Welshpool. It was authorised in 1856 and opened fully in 1862; it was worked by the LNWR from its opening and leased by the company in 1864. The authorising act permitted the GWR to share in the lease and this took effect in 1865.
Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Railway	Originally constructed as part of Potteries, Shrewsbury and North Wales railway which was built and opened from Shrewsbury to Llanymynech in 1866 with a branch from Kinnerley to Criggion. It was not a success and services were suspended in 1880. It lay fallow until 1907 when Holman Stephens promoted a light railway to take over. It was reconstructed and reopened as the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire in 1911. Passenger services ceased in 1933 and the railway began to fade away again only to be resurrected as a military railway in Word War II. It finally closed in 1962.
Shunter (1)	A shunting engine – a locomotive used to move wagons and coaches to make up trains, usually a small tank locomotive, and with limited coal and water capacity, because it would work in local area, though major sorting sidings and yards might require something more substantial. (For example, the Bowen Cooke 1185 0-8-2 tanks were normally employed on shunting.)
Shunter (2)	A workman employed in a dangerous occupation in sorting sidings and goods yards, coupling and uncoupling wagons being shunted.
Shunter’s pole	A pole with a hook at one end, used by a shunter to couple (or uncouple) three link couplings, which is long enough to enable him to do so without standing between the vehicles concerned.
Shunting	The process of arranging goods or passenger vehicles in a particular desired sequence, or to place them in a particular siding, platform or position. For example, to marshal all the vehicles for a particular destination together, or to position a wagon ready for unloading. Shunting was a highly inefficient necessity which involved a lot of cost and produced no revenue. Large numbers of shunting locomotives were assigned to this work.