NEW MARCH 2018. The Cambridge District of the LNER compiled a monthly report on the condition of each of their passenger locomotives, and this file contains scans of original copies of six of those reports.  They were listed shed by shed on sheets of very poor quality paper measuring about 33 cm by 41 cm (13 by 16 inches). The entries were all hand-written.

It seems that at the start of the month the number of each passenger locomotive at the shed was filled in (valuable information in itself), then during the month the aim was if possible to try to ride on each one (other than those described as 'in shops', of course) to assess it.  The examination was quite rudimentary: in the three categories of steaming, riding and general condition, it was classed as either satisfactory, indifferent or bad. There was also a column for remarks (e.g. 'axlebox wedges adjusting').

The sheds were 31A Cambridge (two sheets - B2, B17 and D16 and, fleetingly, B1s); 31B March (B17, D9 and D16); 31C Kings Lynn (D15 and D16, plus three F3s which were listed every month but never tested!); 31D South Lynn (D9 and D16); and 31E Bury St Edmunds (D15 and D16). The B12s and E4s did not feature.

File LM041 looked at the situation over the whole District at one particular date - May 1947.  This file covers different dates, from May 1946 to March 1947. At the start none of the locomotives had received their new LNER numbers, and by the end they all had: these sheets show how the scheme had progressed during the intervening months. The other change which shows up is the demise of the D9 4-4-0s in the District - they were all transferred back to the GC section.

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