City of Edmonton Numbering Scheme
The City of Edmonton's vehicle fleet is maintained by the Fleet Services
branch (formerly Mobile Equipment Services). This includes transit buses and
service vehicles.
The City of Edmonton uses a alpha numeric numbering scheme for fleet vehicles.
The letter designates the year. Now, "year" is open to interpretation. It could
be the year the vehicle was delivered, the model year of the vehicle, the year
the vehicle was built, or the budget year that the money came from to purchase
the vehicle. But, regardless, the letter gives you a good estimate of when the
vehicle was built without having access to the specific information as an
outsider.
The 4 digit fleet number is straight forward at first glance, but, it can be
broken down a bit:
0-999- Fire, others?
1000- cars (police cars have City fleet numbers on paper and I believe might be
decaled in the trunk)
2000- Trucks, vans
3000- Heavy duty trucks
4000- ETS
5000- ETS DATS
6000/7000- ETS, others CoE off road (ie tractors)
7000, 8000- Leased previously, new numbering scheme for leased vehicles however
in use how.
Some letters are skipped for the majority of the fleet: A, F, I, N, O, Q, S, U.
EPCOR's fleet is included within the COE's numbering scheme. EPCOR essentially
contracts the City of Edmonton for it's vehicle maintenance, although, it will
tender for it's own vehicles out of it's own budget. EPCOR is a stand alone
company from the COE, but, the City is the only shareholder.
Leased vehicles used to receive the same letter/ number combination but, the
number is much higher as noted above.
All Transit buses are N series numbers. There are a few places where this can be
seen. 4875 was delivered decaled as N4875
inside, and the DATS buses since 5195 have come with the N prefix. The Ferrier
tents have a plate outside noting N series fleet numbers.
There is a new numbering scheme for leased vehicles, but, it seems
existing lease vehicles keep their existing numbering.
There are examples of over lapping with numbers, but not number/ letters. Right
now there is a N2000, T2000, W2000, and Z2000.
N2000- Vicinity bus
T2000- Mercedes Sprinter
W2000- Ford Transit
Z2000- EPCOR Ford Pickup.
LRT is not part of Fleet Services. As I recall, many years ago when consolidation was going on within the City, MES had the option of taking LRT or leaving it to ETS. Consequentially, they didn't take LRT and so LRV's and a lot of support equipment don't fall within the Fleet Service's mandate.
LRT MoW Fleet Oddities
LRT MoW Fleet Numbering. Where to start? This is a bit.... uhhhhhh....
interesting.
3855- listed in various sources as a tool car. Suspected to still be on property
but off the rails at DLM, no number visible. The other 3855 is the low deck flat
car. As well, this car sports no fleet number. It does sport a 1986 build date,
so, we know it was new to Edmonton Transit. The only source for its number is a
2003 25th Anniversary LRT guide.
3857-3861. First, what is 3856? Any chance the low deck car is 3856? 3857 is the
Mark I tamper. Suspected to have been purchased used, it is listed in the 1986
Trackside Guide, so, that generally jives with 3855 arriving in 1986. In the
same TSG, the ballast regulator is listed as having no number and built in 1973.
We know of course that it became 3859. The fact this was purchased used helps
support that 3857 was purchased used as well. At the time 3858 wasn't used and would appear to be a gap left
intentionally for a second tamper, which did indeed end up being acquired. I
suspect there was a second intentional gap as above 3859 is the Typhoon
3860, followed by the rail grinder 3862. 3861 was filled in in the 2010's by a
second Typhoon. It's quite likely 3860 was a 1986 purchase as well was 3862 was a
1986 unit and, and 3863 is a 1987.
After all of that, in 2018 the new Mark IV HD tamper was numbered 3862, despite
that the rail grinder #3862 is still on property and even on rails!
Whew. If that wasn't enough, then there's the 2012's. The Geismar KGT tronic ran
around without a fleet number for quite sometime before receiving 2012. Photos
have since surfaced of a Balco "Tugger" battery powered mine locomotive with
#2012 as well. I have yet to see this yet in person. The TSG lists 2 Balco "Tugger"
locomotives and shows them as #1 and 2. Both are on property. One stored outside
with 3862 (rail grinder!) presumably for parts, the other indoors fitted with
large batteries. When I saw and photographed this unit in 2009 it had no fleet
numbers or decals, but, since then has received LRT decals and the 2012 fleet
number.
And yes, this might be more details than anyone might care to know, but, when
trying to put together a roster you sometimes going down a rabbit hole and it
seems this was the case when trying to piece together the ETS LRT MoW fleet!