Here are some sources for Carlton information.
http://www.carltoncycles.me.uk - maintained by the V-CC (british vintage cycling club. They elect a 'marquee enthusiast' to be the curator of each vintage brand. Jerry Mortimore, the previous enthusiast, started this excellent website about 4 years ago and has now passed the torch.
we are friends and I have shown him bikes on ebay, and he even bought one of them when i couldn't, and he has taught me many useful things. We still have a disagreement +/- 1 year about his serial numbering scheme. I agree with sheldon brown's retroraleighs numbering scheme. There is a scan of a piece of typewritten paper on mark bulgier's catalog archive (presumably from carlton) that gives the raleigh/carlton 1960's-1980's numbering scheme, and it has matched all ~20 of my framesets and hundreds more on ebay.
Most importantly, jerry mortimore has scans of many of the lug used on several models, including the carlton massed start special.
http://www.carltoncycles.me.uk/
he has now handed over website maintenance to a new enthusiasts who lives in nottingham and knows some of the original employees.
http://www.classicrendezvous.com - unfortunately, just about all these bikes are repainted, not in the original finish.
there is a team jerseys website in france which gives the logos for raleigh and carlton bikes up through about 1979 (when the carlton team, I believe, may have been disbanded). I recently got a 1977-79 jersey.
i own about 3x carlton catalogues and the v-cc has several more PDF scans in a website that is available to paid members, and mark bulgier has about 4 catalogs. Friends on CR list have let told me about the v-cc archive.
there are a handful (maybe 5) websites with a few carlton bikes each on the web, including the jewel, which is one of the rarest bikes in the universe...
i like to surf ebay to learn more about the marquee. whenever i see a good photo of a transfer, i save it for future reference and/or reproduction. whenever I see an unusual bike or frame, i email the seller for more information (originality) and/or serial number. i have collected info for about 10x bikes in original paint from the 1950's and early 1960's. it all begins, however, with a frame in your own garage,
i have been fortunate to receive information from other list members about carlton, including the catalogue page-scan from my ~1950 frameset.
- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA, USA