Railway pay cheques were metallic tokens or tallies used to ensure appropriate payment to the correctly identified railway employee.

Usage

The one-sided identification cheques were usually drawn from the wages office on a Thursday, prior to the Friday payday. The cheques would then be exchanged for a payslip, and the wages paid on signature. In many cases where pay cheques were in use they were often issued to each employee at the start of his employment and retained for the rest of the person's working life with the company. Specialised trays were used for storing these cheques. Stores, maintenance and other departments used this 'pay cheque' system. British Railways examples exist, however it is not at present recorded when their use ceased. Other occupations used the pay cheque system, such as the mining industry.

Pay checks and checks or tallies

These had a slightly different use, being more of a system for ensuring the correct pay by 'checking' in and out of the workplace prior to machines being produced for this specific purpose. 'Checks' were often 'holed' for hanging on boards. In mining, for example, a number on the check was personal to each miner and prior to going down the pit, the miner would give one of his tallies to the pit head "banksman", keeping the duplicate for the duration of the shift. Upon returning to the surface, the miner gave his personal tally to the banksman who would pass it on to the time office or the lamp room. This system made it possible to keep track on workers' whereabouts in the mine complex and for what periods they were working. Pay checks and tallies were only marked on one side and were produced in a great variety of shapes, sizes and designs; made typically of brass or zinc, sometimes steel or aluminium.

Pay cheque types

Shapes

Pay cheques came in various shapes and sizes, including oval, circular, square, tear-shaped, D-shaped, bone-shaped, rectangular, octangular,

Composition

Copper, brass, white metal and pewter were in common use.

Issuing railway companies

Pay cheques were issued by a number of companies, including the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with London and North Eastern Railway, LNER, Great Western Railway, GWR and Southern Railway (UK), SR. The London, Midland an ...

London & North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the LNWR was the largest joint stock company in the world. Dubbed the "Premier Line", the LNWR's main line connec ...

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commis ...

Great Central Railway The Great Central Railway in England was formed when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its Great Central Main Line, London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company ...

, North Eastern Railway, etc.

Exonumia

Railway cheques are collected as

exonumia Exonumia are numismatic items (such as tokens, medals, or scrip) other than coins and paper money. This includes "Good For" tokens, badges, counterstamped coins, elongated coins, encased coins, souvenir medallions, tags, wooden nickels and o ...

or paranumismatica.

References

;Notes {{DEFAULTSORT:Railway Pay Cheques Exonumia Great Western Railway Numismatics