NRS-15980 | Engine Allotment Books

This series comprises the weekly Returns of locomotives allocated to various Depots. Produced by the Locomotive Engineer’s Office for each District, this series provides details about specific locomotives and their location for a given week. Each Return records, according to Engine Number and Class, the status of locomotives allocated to particular Depots. Status information notes whether a locomotive was serviceable, under repair, in storage, on loan, received from or transferred to another Depot. Of those under repair the type of breakage, class of repair or service required, workshop location, commencement date of repairs and anticipated release date were recorded. Later Returns specify locomotives by type including diesel electric, diesel hydraulic, diesel rail tractors and oil or coal burning steam locomotives. Upon transition to diesel and electric power the Returns record the gradual withdrawal of steam locomotives and note their final dispositions. Those permanently stored, sold, scrapped, or set aside for museum and other purposes are listed by Engine Number. The totals of those retired and of those remaining in service for the Return Period are also indicated.Returns were sent to the Chief Mechanical Engineer’s Office, Redfern, on a weekly basis with copies sent to other Offices listed upon the Return.Volumes of Returns are either for specific Depots or for Districts (later Divisions) that incorporated several Depots within a region. Later Returns are grouped according to method of propulsion (steam, diesel or electric). It is noted that the items numbered [7] to [30] within this series are photocopies of original Returns bound into booklet form according to Depot origin. Returns within each volume or booklet are in chronological order.Custody History:From 1955 until 2000 the State Rail Authority of New South Wales maintained an ‘in house archives’ consisting of the archival records of the Authority, its predecessor agencies and the private railway companies taken over by the government. The date ranges of the records were from 1849 until 2000. When the decision was made to close the ‘State Rail Archives’ the parts of the collection that were required as State archives were transferred to the State Records Authority of NSW. Those record series were incorporated into the State Records series system of archives control and were re-numbered.This series was formerly part of the State Rail Archives collection where it was identified as series R191. It may have been viewed in the State Rail Archives as series R191 and could have been previously cited as such in notes by researchers at State Rail Archives or in publications or unpublished works.