My username XTOV is based on the
North Eastern Railway Coaching Stock Telegraph Code.
X signifies a 52ft long vehicle (the NER standard for bogie coaches).
T signifies a third class vehicle.
O signifies an open (as opposed to a compartment) vehicle.
V signifies a vacuum braked vehicle (as opposed to the NER standard Westinghouse brake).
Why XTOV, well for many years I was chairman of a group who owned two ex NER coaches one of which was an XTOV (I could not use the other code XAV because there is already a user 'Xav').
Perhaps some day I shall start a page about
NER Carriages ?
I have been actively involved with the
NYMR since its inception (I joined the NYMRPS shortly after leaving school in the summer of 1967), having lived for the first half of my life 2.5 miles from
Pickering.
As a result of my interest in the NYMR I began researching the
Whitby and Pickering Railway and its successors in my student days in
London and have continued that research whenever the opportunity arose. This interest lead to a more general interest in the
North Eastern Railway and especially its carriages.