Archive Catalogue Structure

The Catalogue has been constructed to provide an easy-to-use guide to the records held in the CRA Archive Collection. It attempts to avoid jargon and misleading or confusing terms and unnecessary abbreviations. The few abbreviations that are used are explained below or in the heading of the section they specifically refer to.

Every item in the collection carries a prefix CRA and to catalogue every item held in the Archive a series of levels of subdivision have been used, with each level separated by a /. The first two levels are set out in detail below providing an overview of the collection. This will give you a general idea of where to begin to look for the material you wish to find, or give you an idea of where you might prefer to browse.

Level 3 is the Main Catalogue listing for each of these subsections e.g. CRA3/1 Timetables:

Level 4 and where necessary Level 5  list individual items within the above subdivisions.

The Archive is broadly split according to type of item; sections 2-5 documents; section 6 plans; section 7 photographs; section 8 maps; section 9 published materials. Sometimes items related to one subject may be held in different places within the catalogue; for example, if there is a particular station you are interested in it may be best to start at CRA/3/10 Station Paperwork, and then possibly find the drawings for the station under CRA/6/2 and photographs under CRA/7/4.  The online search function will look across all categories other than photgraphes which are listed as pdfs showing a small thumbnail of the image.

Every heading in the catalogue has an archival number and, if necessary, a brief description of the types of material you can find within it. Each entry into the catalogue consists of an Archival Number, a Description and a Date. The Detailed Item Listings also include additional fields such as Location, Drawing Number, etc.

In the description there are occasionally abbreviations in bold font. Their presence by a catalogued item indicates that the record was created by that railway company, and not by the Caledonian Railway. The main examples are:

Also in the description there may be text in italic font. These notes relate to the format of the record, or where it has come from. CD means the item is on CD Rom, copy indicates that the item is a modern photocopy of the original. Other italicised text is notes added by the catalogue compiler as background information to assist the researcher, e.g. poor quality image.

Occasionally there is another reference number [in bold] - this indicates that the item is a copy of an item held elsewhere, most likely at the National Archives of Scotland.

Sometimes one reference number is used for multiple items. This is indicated by a note after the description in the catalogue.

Items which are held as digital file and those having a digital copy in the Archive are indicated {DI}