General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

Metal number plate

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

49.5 cm

Width

44.2 cm

Height

3.2 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Railway Transportation

Category

Miscellaneous

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

New York

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

Period

Unknown

Canada

Builders’ plates are the “birth certificates” (Steuernagel, 1988)* of the locomotive. No matter what physical chances and renumbering occur during its operational life, the builders’ plate remains unchanged indicating the manufacturer, location, and builder’s serial number for the locomotive. The static nature of the builders’ plates means that they tend to be more important for research and proper identification of locomotives because locomotive builders’ rosters are listed by serial number and not by customer roster number. However, the customer roster number is also used extensively by railway historians as a means of identification and in many cases number plates served as a promotional piece for the locomotive purchaser. Name plates are part of earlier versions of the builders’ plates where the name of the manufacturer was separated from the location of manufacture and the serial number of the locomotive. The name plates offered represent some of the early manufacturers of locomotives in North America. Although the name plates are separated from the rest of the builders’ plates, they still acts as collection tools which document 19th century steam locomotive manufacturers. (From "Canadian Context/Historical Significance" section in Acquisition Proposal, p.12) (*Could not find reference listed in Proposal.)

Function

When affixed to a locomotive, was used to identify the locomotive number.

Technical

The builder and locomotive plates in this collection document the existence of various companies that sold locomotives in this country, which are otherwise undocumented in our collection. (From "Technical Significance" section of Acquisition Proposal, p.12)

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

On proper front: "6005/ NEW YORK/ CENTRAL/ SYSTEM"/ Stamped into the metal along the bottom edge of the proper back: "54S3250/ 54S3055/ 54S34[3]9"

Missing

Appears complete

Finish

Plate is a silver coloured metal. The proper front is painted black in the background behind the number, and dark blue in the background behind the name of the locomotive line. The markings are all the same colour as the base metal.

Decoration

N/A