I dont know if it's my imagination...but is that a Police Box in the distance (left hand side of road)?
If it is..it does seem a bit early for a dark blue box  

Certainly looks like it, is it a three-windows-on-the-side variation?

*'scuse my not so technical nomenclature *

Well, isn't that interesting.

Certainly looks like a Mark 3 to me, but there is no listing in the Met List for anything on Ealing Road.

This appears to be the current street view for this photo --



URL:  http://maps.google.com/maps?q=ealing+road,+wembley,+uk&ll=51.551339,-0.298777&spn=0.001634,0.00839&safe=images&hnear=Ealing+Rd,+Wembley,+United+Kingdom&t=m&z=17&layer=c&cbll=51.551254,-0.298739&panoid=tYILwMePQ4YFJYr_mSTRHg&cbp=12,153.62,,1,-2.84

It's just down from Wembley High Road/Harrow Road, but again, doesn't appear to be on the Met List. The nearest Box on the list is around a mile to the east up on Harrow Road.

I'm still convinced there are some pages missing from the list what division would it fall into.

Mind you looking at the cars I would say it is too early to be a mk3,

edit:actually it doesn't look like a box when I zoom in

I know there is a page missing from P Division per lorisarvendu when he transcribed the Met List (P35-P45), but this Wembley Box would be in X Division, and the previous missing box in Dulwich Village would be in Z Division. Not really much of a pattern, but yes, there obviously are some Boxes missing, either from pages not present or copied, or through some kind of error during preparation of the List itself.

Due to the privations of the war and post-war periods (at least to the end of rationing), many older cars were kept on the road much longer than one would expect, so I'm not sure old cars in a photo are as useful a dating tool as newer ones would be. In other words, car models are good for establishing minimum dates, but less so for maximum dates. So I think this could easily be circa 1950-1955, especially considering the small sample set of vehicles visible in the photo. 

Blowup --



It is on the sidewalk, about the right size and profile, and appears to have three side windows like a Mark 3. It is definitely a low-res photo at that range so difficult to be sure, but what are you seeing that makes it not look like a Met Box to you?

Wish we had a better scan of the original postcard.

Looks like there is a 4th window my money is on shadow and a fag machine

I look at that photo and I don't see a police box.
Whilst there was a page missing from the actual original document that I was manually scanning at the met, I very much doubt that they would have missed out one single box or post. Indeed, we could all wish very hard and hope they did, but the acual historic document says otherwise. There was no box in that location.

 

I absolutely agree that the bar is pretty high for proof of a box not on the list. Don't think this one quite makes the cut.

However, there is at least one Box that appears to spoil the image of the Met List reflecting a perfect listing of Sites, unfortunately, and it's in Z Division, not the missing page from P Division.

It's this one --  http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=3803

Confirmation of it not being on the list will have to wait until I finish my survey of all the Box Sites, but I did do a quick run through based on descriptions and I didn't see it at all in Z Division. The List is also not a full record as it, for the most part, doesn't say where the previous Site for a Box was (or give dates) when it says it was "Resited" (generally I've found the List to reflect the position of the Box at the time of removal).

Who was the lucky person to gain access to that Police Box Bible and is it possible to go back and dig out any more info (photos!) of these treasures!! 

It was me!
Thing is, they have one box file crammed with photos and lists (and theres a lovely, massive document with hand drawn maps showing the locaions of the boxes... 1 drawn plan per A4 page... so one box per sheet... imagine the scanning that would take!) BUT they know there are at least another eight box files in deep storage with more photos and paperwork in. And theres no plans (or rather, there "were" no plans) for them to dig them out from deep storage.
There was interest in an interactive map (which i mentioned a while back in another thread) which I am hoping to go back to them with, plus (if possible) a collection of photos that they don't have on file printed out to add to their own collection.
If anyone wants to help with finishing the map (real life has bogged me down somewhat) then that would be most excellent.
But yes, the aim is to go back there.
Mark

Doing what I can  

Had an interesting thought if or when the next trip to the Met Archives should become a reality -- perhaps for non-critical work, like getting images of the hand drawn Box location A4 sheets, it might be more efficient to take photos instead of scans.

If you had a portable setup with lights and a stand or tripod and a digital camera pre-focused to a well marked page area, all you'd have to do would be flip on a sheet and take a photo, flip on the next sheet and snap another, etc. At a decent resolution the results should be perfectly adequate for archiving the location sheets, not requiring the kind of accuracy desired for archival photographs where scanning would be preferred.

I should think this would also be great for many documents like the Met List itself - as long as the rig is pretested to make sure everything is in focus, in frame and that the lens isn't on a setting that creates really bad distortion. Make sure you have plenty of SD cards handy, though!

Just a thought.

Quote from: hb88banzai on Nov 01, 2012, 07:45 am
I know there is a page missing from P Division per lorisarvendu when he transcribed the Met List (P35-P45), but this Wembley Box would be in X Division, and the previous missing box in Dulwich Village would be in Z Division. Not really much of a pattern, but yes, there obviously are some Boxes missing, either from pages not present or copied, or through some kind of error during preparation of the List itself.

I'm not convinced there is a missing page in P Division. Yes the numbers do jump from P34 to P46, but those two boxes are both in East Dulwich, so what are the chances that the Met numbered P34 in the same area, then went somewhere else from P35 onwards...then suddenly jumped back to East Dulwich again for P46...exactly coinciding with a missing page?

I have a strong suspicion that the numbering system was not just used for Police boxes and posts.  A Division boxes start their numbering at A51, so are we to believe that boxes/posts A1-A50 are on missing pages?  I think that P35-P45 are numbers used for "objects" other than Met Boxes or Posts, hence why they're not on the pages that Dalekoracle scanned.  What other ten things could there be in P Division?  Maybe Police Stations?

EDIT: It's quite possible.  In 1921, P Division covered Peckham, Camberwell, East Dulwich, Brockley, West Dulwich, Sydenham, Lewisham, Catford, Penge, Beckenham, Bromley and Farnborough.  Plenty of room for 10 stations numbered 35-45.

I obviously misinterpreted your initial posting here http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=3408.msg39103#msg39103 when you transcribed the Met List, "At first glance it does looks like the list is incomplete (and in the case of P Division, there's a page missing)" - the parenthetical sounded more like a statement to me rather than a continuation of the premise.

It is odd that there are missing numbers in the middle, however. All the others were at the beginning. If there IS a page missing, it just might be possible that the Dulwich Village Box was listed in P Division and Sited in Z Division. As to the Met List jumping around - it does. It would be a major coincidence to do so right at the page breaks, but not out of the realm of possibility.

I've amended my original post to hopefully remove that ambiguity.

As to whether missing numbers indicate missing boxes, or items that were never boxes (and so would not be on the box list), the sheer volume of missing numbers would unrealistically increase the accepted number of boxes in London.

There are indications in the list itself of police station closures (Sydenham, Catford, Sunbury, Isleworth, Hanwell, Kew, Harefield, Kilburn, Goffs Oak, North Fulham, Notting Dale, Canning Town, Kennington Road, Grange Road), so perhaps these would account for some of the missing numbers?