A builder's plate is usually a

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

plate that is attached to railway

locomotives A locomotive is a rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for longer and heavier freight train ...

and

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, Railroad car#Freight cars, freight and Passenger railroad car, passenger cars (or coaches) ...

bogie A bogie ( ) (or truck in North American English) comprises two or more Wheelset (rail transport), wheelsets (two Railroad wheel, wheels on an axle), in a frame, attached under a vehicle by a pivot. Bogies take various forms in various modes ...

construction equipment Heavy equipment, heavy machinery, earthmovers, construction vehicles, or construction equipment, refers to heavy-duty vehicles specially designed to execute construction tasks, most frequently involving earthwork operations or other large con ...

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

s, large

household appliance A home appliance, also referred to as a domestic appliance, an electric appliance or a household appliance, is a machine which assists in household functions such as cooking, cleaning and food preservation. The domestic application attached to ...

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

ship A ship is a large watercraft, vessel that travels the world's oceans and other Waterway, navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally disti ...

s and more. It gives such information as the name of the

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or Production (economics), production of goods with the help of equipment, Work (human activity), labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary se ...

, the place and country of manufacture, the model number, the

serial number A serial number (SN) is a unique identifier used to ''uniquely'' identify an item, and is usually assigned incrementally or sequentially. Despite being called serial "numbers", they do not need to be strictly numerical and may contain letters ...

, as well as the date of manufacture or date of fabrication of the item or unit.

Gallery

File:Schenectady builder's plate.jpg, Schenectady Locomotive Works builder's plate File:New South Wales Government Locomotive No. 1c.jpg, New South Wales Government Railways Locomotive No. 1. Builders plate 958 File:Kerr Stuart Builder's plate 1327.jpg, Kerr, Stuart and Company File:T? Baldwin plate.jpg,

Baldwin Locomotive Works The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railway locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, Eddystone in the early 20th century. The com ...

builders plate File:Lima builder's plate.jpg,

Lima Locomotive Works Lima Locomotive Works (LLW) was an American firm that manufactured railroad locomotives from the 1870s through the 1950s. The company's name is derived from the location of its main manufacturing plant in Lima, Ohio ( ). The shops were located be ...

File:NSWGR AD60 Class Locomotive 6040 d.jpg, New South Wales AD60 class locomotive Beyer, Peacock and Company. builder's plate. File:SAR Class GMAM 4140 (4-8-2+2-8-4) BP.jpg, BP and NBL works plate off ( South African Class GMA 4-8-2+2-8-4) no. 4140 File:Rogers locomotive K88 (4) (8720060364).jpg, Rogers Locomotive Works builder's plate on a New Zealand Railways K class File:GNR 1744 constructors plate.jpg, NBL builder's plate File:Nippon Sharyo builder's plate.jpg,

Nippon Sharyo , formed in 1896, is a major rolling stock, Heavy equipment, heavy equipment, Diesel generator, generator, Special-purpose entity, special purpose vehicle and bridge manufacturer based in Nagoya, Japan. In 1996, it abbreviated its ...

builder's plate File:TS State of Maine shipbuilder's plate (as USNS Tanner) 1990.jpg, TS State of Maine shipbuilder's plate (as USNS Tanner) File:Builders Plate TSS Earnslaw.jpg, Builders Plate of the TSS Earnslaw File:Barnsley & District ET bus 5 (HE 12), 1913 Leyland S3 Brush, Crystal Palace Park, 6 May 2006 (10).jpg, Leyland Motors builder's plate File:Builders plate on QR loco 1740.jpg, Clyde Engineering builder’s plate on Queensland Railways 1740 class File:Montreal builder's plate.jpg,

Montreal Locomotive Works Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) was a Canadian railway locomotive manufacturer that existed under several names from 1883 to 1985, producing both Steam locomotive, steam and diesel locomotives. For many years it was a subsidiary of the American ...

builder's plate File:BuildersPlate-473.jpg, Builder's Plate of

EMD F9 The EMD F9 is a Diesel-electric locomotive produced between February 1953 and May 1960 by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors (EMD) and General Motors Diesel (GMD). It succeeded the F7 model in GM-EMD's F-unit sequence. Final asse ...

(A) locomotive D&RGW 5771 File:Builder's plate of Kinki Sharyo 001.JPG, Builder's plate of

Kinki Sharyo is a Japanese manufacturer of railroad vehicles based in Osaka. It is an affiliate company of Kintetsu Corporation. In business since 1920 as Tanaka Rolling Stock Works, and renamed The Kinki Sharyo Co., Ltd in 1945, they produce rolling stock f ...

File:Rly Leek & Manifold J.B.Earle No.2 1904 edited-3.jpg, Kitson's manufacturer's plate dated 1904 from ''J.B.Earle'' displayed in the museum at Tywyn on the

Talyllyn Railway The Talyllyn Railway () is a narrow-gauge railway in Wales running for from Tywyn on the Mid-Wales coast to Nant Gwernol railway station, Nant Gwernol near the village of Abergynolwyn. The line was opened in 1865Drummond 2015, page 17 to carr ...

File:Horbury Wagon (1).jpg, Charles Roberts & Co. builders plate on preserved wagon File:BMAG.jpg, Berliner Maschinenbau builder's plate on a

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

File:Baldwin builder's plate.jpg,

builder's plate, 1922 File:Finland SocieteSuisse2.JPG, SLM Builder's Plate of Locomotive at the Finnish Railway Museum File:LMS 3F 47406 Vulcan Foundry 3177.1926 edited-2.jpg, Vulcan Foundry Works plate No. 3977 of 1926 on LMS Fowler Class 3F No. 47406 in 2012 File:Plate Toshiba 10E2 (10-125).JPG,

Toshiba is a Japanese multinational electronics company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, elevators and escalators, electronic components, semiconductors ...

, + Union Carriage & Wagon builders plate on South African Class 10E2 locomotive File:50 c-s Group 14E (14-001).JPG, Builder's plates on Class 14E no. 14-001 File:Plaque Elsaessische Maschinenbau Gesellschaft NR 4805.jpg, Builder's plate of EM-GG NR 4805 File:WMATA Kawasaki 7000 series builder's plate.jpg, Kawasaki builder's plate on a

Washington Metro The Washington Metro, often abbreviated as the Metro and formally the Metrorail, is a rapid transit system serving the Washington metropolitan area of the United States. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority ...

7000 series train

References

* {{Cite web , author=Thompson , first=Keith , date=1 May 2006 , title=Builder's plates: A locomotive's birth certificate , url=https://trn.trains.com/railroads/abcs-of-railroading/2006/05/builders-plates , publisher=Kalmbach Publishing , access-date=February 8, 2008 Identifiers Infographics Locomotive parts Signage

Gallery

See also

References