Last update 25th February 2008
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Phil Deaves, Swindon, Wiltshire
I am always grateful for additional information, whether entirely new records (particularly historical records), or information to fill in gaps or correct errors, via the email address above. Thank you.
This page links to a four-way listing of railway codes thus:
CRS codes are one way of identifying places, usually stations (though some junctions and depots have codes). They were created to enable the booking of seat reservations by (station-based) computers. Thus, one place where the codes can be seen in everyday use is at the base of seat reservation labels, showing the start and end stations for that particular service.
In this listing, CRS codes are presented in two ways. Codes listed in normal text are from reliable official sources, whereas codes in italic text are additional codes found in a list of TIPLOCs, where these do not duplicate known codes. Codes in both sources are, of course, shown in normal type. The discerning reader will treat italic codes with caution. They are presented here for the sake of completeness.
NLCs are used in an accounting context to identify individual assets. They are entirely separate to ELRs and PRIDE numbers (shown elsewhere on this site). Additionally, these codes are also used by booking offices, albeit in a slightly truncated form. Those locations which are stations generally have NLCs ending "00" (for example, Swindon is 333300). Booking clerks drop the final two zeroes, and refer to Swindon as 3333.
TIPLOCs are used by train planners to identify what time trains should arrive at, depart or pass a particular point.
The railway also uses STANOX codes. These are used in the Total Operations Processing System (TOPS), and apparently are unique siding location numbers. However, a quick glance at the list of STANOX codes will reveal many places sharing the same code, thus removing the uniqueness. There also exist STANOX codes modified by adding an asterisk (*) after the number, thus making it very hard to identify any hard-and-fast "rules"! Locations are listed broadly geographically from north to south, with overseas sites using the lowest numbers.
Until recently, STANOX locations must be on the railway network (a recent list includes Whitehall and various head quarters), whilst TIPLOCs and CRS locations do not necessarily have to be served by rail (for example, some ports and bus stops come in this category). One can see that there is little, if any, correlation between the different code systems, as they were designed by different people to fulfill different purposes.
Live departure boards can be obtained by putting
http://www.livedepartureboards.co.uk/ldb/summary.aspx?T=
in your browser, followed by the appropriate CRS code in CAPITAL letters.
Alternatively, links are available via this unofficial departure boards website (link no longer active?). The official website is here.
Locations are listed on each page according to first letter of the TIPLOC (where a location has one). Therefore, Dereham Market Place will be found on page "P" under "Peterborough" as the TIPLOC is PBRODMP. This can lead to some anomalies as, in this case, Dereham appears in its own right on page "D".
These pages attemt to list all known locations/codes, whether or not they are still current.
Please select a location list from the links below:
Introduction A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
For a variety of other railway topics, you may like Joyce's World of Transport Eclectia, which includes a spreadsheet of station NLCs, and Underground equivalents.
David Biddulph, Hil, Charlie Hulme and Sam Wilson for helpful comments with regard to presentation and "web" issues; Dysgraphyk and Mark Townend for explanations about STANOX; Jon Collins, Dysgraphyk, Andrew Weeks, Andrew Laing, Alistair McIndoe, Teorin Kurg, Steven A Horne, Darren ("dogo"), Peter Kazmierczak, Gareth ("Gaz"), David Potter, Don Brayford, Graham Pether, Dave Wilson and Ben Sturgess for additional data and corrections.