ملف:Engineers Line Reference Plate, Gillingham Station - geograph.org.uk - 1161401.jpg

English: Engineers Line Reference Plate, Gillingham Station. This is a railway feature. It has recently appeared on the road bridge outside Gillingham Station. The number 171 refers to the bridge number (counting upwards from London) and the distance is expressed in miles and chains -- archaic but more convenient for a 19th century construction. 1 chain is 22 yards, 80 chains in a mile. The bridge is thus 35 and 67/80ths miles from Victoria. VIR is the route ID code -- signifying Victoria / Ramsgate. You can see this sign in context at the very far right of this photo, on the wall about a metre above pavement level 1145182 There is an entire website dedicated to ELRs and it's more interesting than you'd expect. http://deaves47.users.btopenworld.com/ELRs/ELR0.htm