BTP Helmet Plates

[Polsa999]

Hi Brian

Just to confirm that I am retired BTP but my last few years were in the Met. I am a member of the BTP History Group and currently manager for our Census Project. So if anyone has a railway police query (UK only) I may be able to answer it or one of my colleagues will.

Best wishes to you all

Steve

www.btphg.org.uk

[Brian Wolfe]

Hello Steve,

Thank you for the offer to assist members with their research, this is someting many of us find difficult especially if we live in outside of the UK.

This is the spirt we ned here on the GMIC and in keeping with the spirt of the season, a very Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Regards

Brian

Sorry for the background in the photos below. I'm reconstructing my small photo area with the hopes of being able to post better quality photos in 2012.

[Polsa999]

The two badges were introduced after 1962 when the Force became BTP after 14 years of being the British Transport Commission Police. The first time that a railway police force did not follow the name of the railway company for which it provided a service. However the Cardiff Railway Company Police continued to call themselves the Bute Dock Police until amalgamation with Great Western Railway in 1922, having been absorbed in August 1897.

It was my experience, when I joined in 1970 that the chrome plate was the only one is use. Therefore the dark plate would have been used between 1962 and 1970. I have never researched the origins and use of the black plate, which I will do, but I do not believe it was used as a night plate....due to the chrome background to the force name.

Regards

Steve

[Polsa999]

Brian

I have had confirmation from a member of our History Group

'So far as I am aware, our helmet plates were ‘multi-purpose’ (i.e. we only got the one!!) although I know that my local Forces, Coventry City and Birmingham City did have night and day plates. This is 1960’s of course. The old BTC plates (pre-1960) were black with a chrome BTC in the middle. Then came the black plate with the chrome circular middle piece with the ‘cat peeing up against the wheel’ as it was irreverently referred to. The chrome lettering around the ‘cat’ was British Transport Commission Police. We then moved to the black plate with the new Force shield but the lettering ‘British Transport Police ‘was in black as was the background to the shield. The next transformation was the same plate but all in chrome'

Regards

Steve

[milice]

The first badge was used 1962 till 1968.

[NickLangley]

I knew there was something about the BTP helmet plate that was bugging me but I couldn't put my finger on it ... until now. I can't recall another force's plain metal helmet plate where the lettering is contersunk rather than proud of the badge.

Does anyone know of another force that had a similar style of HP?

[Robert L.]

Hi, Just to be sure I want to confirm the dates for two helmet plates I have.

One is Black and Silver, Kings Crown with the letters BTC in the middle.

The other is Black and silver, Queens Crown with the old "British Rail" insignia in the middle.

It is a bit hard to locate this info in the US. I am not a collector of these items, but was given a LNER and BTC helmet by a fellow officer in the UK, plus the extra plate many years ago.

Your help is appreciated.

Sincerely

Robert

fruitcop@frontier.com

[Dave Wilkinson]

Although the British Transport Commission Police existed in that name for around about 15 years, they had during that time quite a variety of badges. The appended photo shows an almost complete "set" apart from two others which I believe exist and which to date have escaped me.

Dave.

[Polsa999]

Dave/Robert

I am afraid that a definitive answer to the question raised by Robert is, as suggested by Dave, not an easy one to answer. These various HP's were issued between 1948 and 1962 and a previous entry contains a reply from one of my colleagues in the BTP History Group, which may provide some answer. The Group has not yet begun a uniform project which would include HP's. The difficulty arises from the many railway police forces which were in existence prior to 1922. Some HP's had crowns some not...some had crowns and later had them removed...a lot of work is needed to discover the correct timeline(s).

Those plates with the griffin were worn by the London Transport officers of the BTC Police.

Regards

Steve

Edited December 13, 2013 by Polsa999