Steam Days - July 2022 - Preview by Mortons Media Group Ltd

CORNISH RAIL ROVING: TRURO-NEWQUAY-PLYMOUTH

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‘blood & custard’

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PLUS crewe’s locomotive building landmarks

DEESIDE TO WREXHAM BY THE GCR ROUTE

THE SMALLER GNSR SHEDS WEST OF DYCE

No 395

July 2022

Trains of thought

Crewe’s locomotive building landmarks By tradition, Crewe Works marked the building of every thousand locomotives, David Anderson details the history of its celebrated steam engines.

West of England Rail Rover 1960 Truro to Plymouth via Newquay, Looe and Fowey Everyday steam-hauled trains in Cornwall are recalled through the diary entry of Leslie R Freeman and photographs from the day, 31 May 1960.

Cover: On a full rake of Western Region ‘Blood & Custard’ stock, Churchward Mogul No 7308 heads train 980, the Saturdays-only 12.18pm Hastings to Birmingham (Snow Hill). This ran 19 June to 18 September (inclusive), avoided Eastbourne, and reversed at both Brighton (1.27-35pm) and Redhill (2.14-20). It presumably gained this engine at Redhill for the run through to the Midlands and is seen departing from the Reading (General) stop (3.45-55pm). Colour-Rail.com/BRW808

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The 7,000th locomotive built at Crewe Works, Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2T No 41272 arrives at Wadebridge from Padstow on 8 September 1962. D R King/Colour-Rail.com/315026

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STEAM DAYS in Colour 211: ‘Blood & Custard’ In the brave new world of the nationalised railway, the first corporate livery was crimson and cream, a striking colour scheme. Its use proved widespread, as did its nickname, ‘Blood & Custard’.

Shotton to Wrexham: Station by station A resident of the Hawarden area from 1957 until 1963, Richard Clarke talks us through a journey along the ex-Great Central Railway line that passed his home as it linked both Chester and the Wirral with Wrexham.

Great North of Scotland Railway engine sheds Smaller facilities west of Dyce Added to the Morayshire Railway’s first route and the GNSR main line to Keith, Roger Griffiths and John Hooper consider the motive power servicing needs of the evolved network of lines that reached out to Boat of Garten and concluded with the creation of a Moray coast route.

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JULY 2022

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TRAINS of thought

Next month... West of England Rail Rover 1960: Plymouth to Exeter via Okehampton, Torrington, Barnstaple, Ilfracombe and Taunton Gloucester to Oban holiday: August 1962 Contrasting timings on Kettering’s lines The Garstang & Knott End Railway Steam around Great Yarmouth in full colour On sale Thursday, 21 July 2022

Steam Days Magazine Immediately after the summer of my family holiday to Exmouth, BR Standard ‘3MT’ 2-6-2T No 82010 awaits departure from the Devon terminus with a local train to Exeter in September 1960. Don H Beecroft/Colour-Rail.com/BRS2048

JULY 2022

love train travel, especially steam-hauled in the era of steam on Britain’s railways. When I read through some of the articles that arrive at this office for possible publication in Steam Days I sometimes get quite envious of some of the journeys taken by our readers and contributors in the steam era, as although my interest in railways started many years ago in 1942, I only wish that I could have taken more journeys by rail back then. This was mainly down to lack of funds with meagre pocket money as a schoolboy and never really being able to afford to go by rail to exotic places that I read about in books and magazines I think that most of my steam-hauled train journeys in my school days were taken on family holidays, with the odd trip from my home in Worcester to Birmingham. Some of the family holidays in the late 1940s and early 1950s from Worcester were taken to Manchester to visit my aunt in the school holidays, sometimes travelling there via Birmingham (New Street), Stafford and Crewe and on other occasions via Hereford, Shrewsbury (seeing Viscount Portal when new in 1946) and Crewe. Whilst staying with my aunt in Gatley I would take daily spotting trips to Manchester (London Road) station, our train through Gatley from Wilmslow terminating at Mayfield station in Manchester, hauled by an LMS tank engine. Other journeys undertaken by me in LMS territory in the days of steam would be from Worcester to Tamworth (a great spotting location), a station where I alighted for Whittington Barracks in my National Service days in 1952, and from Lichfield on the long journey in that year to Chichester in Sussex when I was transferred there to attend an army clerk’s course – great spotting at Chichester (seeing 10201), and also at Bisley on the South Western main line when going there from Chichester for the last King’s Prize shooting competition. After completing my clerk’s course I was transferred to Norton Barracks, Worcester, which was situated beside the Worcester to Paddington main line. This journey, complete with full kit bag, included a walk between Victoria and Paddington stations in London. Norton Barracks had not been in informed of my forthcoming arrival, so they sent me home – just three miles away! Steam-hauled journeys over former GWR lines took me over most of those picturesque Devon and Cornwall branch lines with their plethora of ‘4500/4575’ class 2-6-2T locomotives – lovely engines! I have memorable journeys from 1956 when staying in Perranporth, that included my wife to be and I taking out a 7-day Runabout Rail Rover ticket for the area, that we used every day. Trips to South Wales included steam-hauled journeys from Cardiff to Barry and to Caerphilly in 1954 after a memorable visit to Cardiff (Cathays) shed. I also travelled in a troop train in that year from Worcester to Hereford and Sennybridge army camp in Breconshire, with the Worcestershire Regiment’s Territorials. In the early to mid-1950s I would make numerous journeys by train from Worcester to Malvern to either go blackberrying in the Malvern Hills or to attend the Sunday big band concerts at the Winter Gardens theatre. As regards the Southern Region, we travelled over three separate routes in the days of steam when heading for Bournemouth for our annual holiday. These were via Mangotsfield and the S&D, via Cheltenham and Andover Junction, or through Oxford and Basingstoke. I clearly remember, with many others, having to pile into the guard’s van at Southampton where we had a connecting train to Bournemouth when on our journey through Andover Junction to Bournemouth, a van that was already piled high with cases. My other memorable Southern steam-hauled journey was to Exmouth for a family holiday with my two very young children when, in 1960, we were put on a fast Waterloo express at Exeter (St David’s), not being told to change trains at Exeter (Central), but it was the only time I travelled behind a Southern Pacific, each way, between Exeter and Sherborne. Enjoy your own memories of being steam-hauled – unforgettable times!

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Crewe’s locomotive building landmarks By tradition, Crewe Works marked the building of every thousand locomotives, David Anderson details the history of its celebrated steam engines from Trevithick’s No 49 ‘Columbine’ of 1845 through to Ivatt’s ‘2MT’ 2-6-2T No 41272 of 1950, before concluding with the last built steam locomotive, BR Standard ‘9F’ No 92250.

hen the London & North Western Railway was formed on 16 July 1846 – upon amalgamation of the Grand Junction Railway (which had absorbed both the Liverpool & Manchester and Bolton & Leigh railways in 1845), the Manchester & Birmingham and London & Birmingham railways – Francis Trevithick and Alexander Allan were in charge of the Northern Division engines at Crewe, John Ramsbottom had charge of the North Eastern Division engines at Manchester Longsight, whilst James McConnell was responsible for the Southern Division engines at Wolverton.

It is perhaps surprising that the celebration of the various ‘thousandth’ locomotives built at Crewe Works was so rarely taken to shine a spotlight on an elite locomotive by ‘timing’ such a release, with perhaps two exceptions. From the British public’s perception it was probably ‘George the Fifth’ class 4-4-0 Coronation that stood out. New as the 5,000th locomotive built at Crewe Works, and unusually seeing use in L&NWR days with its ‘Crewe number’ as its running number, this post-Grouping view on Friday, 3 May 1935 records it on display at London (Euston) station as LMS No 5348 Coronation. Unsurprisingly with Royal train service in its history, it is on display as part of a specimen West Coast express of 1910, i.e. the year that King George V succeeded to the throne, this event marking his Silver Jubilee, the royal occasion being celebrated more fully by the country on 6 May 1935. V R Webster/Kidderminster Railway Museum

In regard to the two men at Crewe, Francis Trevithick (the son of Richard Trevithick) had become the Grand Junction Railway locomotive superintendent at Liverpool Edge Hill after William Buddicom’s resignation in 1841, while Alexander Allan entered GJR service in February 1840 and took charge of the company’s locomotive establishment at Edge Hill. It was in the spring of 1843 that transfer from Edge Hill to the purpose built GJR works at Crewe was undertaken, with Allan the foreman of locomotives at Crewe, under Trevithick. Subsequently, in 1853 Allan (born at Montrose) joined the Scottish Central Railway as the general manager of the locomotive department but he left that company in 1865 upon its amalgamation with the Caledonian Railway.

The first locomotives built at Crewe Works were Trevithick 2-2-2s under the supervision of Alexander Allan, this F C Hambleton drawing being noteworthy in that it not only describes these 6ft Singles as ‘Columbine’ class but quotes ‘Crewe numbers’. A total of 94 locomotives passed from the GJR to L&NWR ownership on the latter company’s creation, the lion’s share of which were 2-2-2s. Historian Bertram Baxter noted that the ‘Old Crewe’ type was inspired by Herod and Odin, built for the GJR by George Forrester & Co in 1840 when Allan was the works manager there, as well as the 1840 rebuild of Aeolus, which was itself derived from Stephenson’s patent engine of 1834, Patentee of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. The socalled ‘crooked’ frames were to avoid the use of a crank axle, which was a weakness on earlier engines. LNWRS Collection

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John Ramsbottom (1814-97) was appointed locomotive superintendent at Longsight in 1842, while James McConnell held the post of locomotive superintendent of the Birmingham & Gloucester Railway until the formation of the L&NWR in 1846, when he succeeded Edward Bury at Wolverton. Consolidation saw the L&NWR’s three locomotive divisions reduced to two in 1857 upon the retirement of Trevithick, with amalgamation of the Northern and North Eastern divisions under Ramsbottom at Crewe, and that at Longsight closed, and then 1862 saw McConnell of the Southern Division retire – at that time Wolverton became a carriage works and the locomotive stock was thereafter centred on Crewe.

A undated view records Trevithick 6ft 2-2-2 Engineer. Bangor, formerly Columbine, speeding west with a four-wheeled saloon at Abergele on the North Wales coast main line; it has just passed through the station. The Crewe-built Columbine saw capital stock use from July 1845 as a replacement for the first locomotive of that name, and it seems likely that the cab fitted in this photograph is an 1875 addition. Certainly the view is post-November 1877 as that is when the veteran Single passed to a District Engineer role, and was named accordingly, and most likely it dates from much nearer to retirement in January 1902. It may well be the case that the first locomotive built at Crewe was already long since withdrawn but the long-standing secondary jobs given to the erstwhile Columbine ensured that an ‘Old Crewe’ type could reach preservation, and the L&NWR chose to protect this piece of history. LNWRS Collection

In covering the years of steam locomotive construction at Crewe it is appropriate to consider the leading lights of locomotive matters in the 1843 to 1958 building period, the following men being either locomotive superintendents or chief mechanical engineers at the works. In regard to the L&NWR, the term chief mechanical engineer post-dates the Whale era. Francis Trevithick (1843-57) John Ramsbottom (1857-71) Francis William Webb (1871-1903) George Whale (1903-09) C J B Cooke (1909-20) H P M Beames (1920-30) George Hughes (1922-25) Sir Henry Fowler (1925-30) E J H Lemon (1931) Sir William A Stanier (1932-44) C E Fairburn (1944-45) H G Ivatt (1946-51) R A Riddles (1948-53) R C Bond (1954-68)

The celebrated locomotives Built for the Grand Junction Railway and completed on 20 February 1845, for some

years the first engine said to have been built at Crewe Works was Trevithick/Allan 6ft ‘Standard Single’ 2-2-2 No 49 Columbine. However, early Crewe records show that prior to the building of No 49 there was engine No 32 Tamerlane, said to have been completed on 20 October 1843, and also Nos 27 Merlin and 13 Prospero were completed by December 1843. Confusingly, these seemingly random numbers and names were taken from the locomotives that the new engines replaced, with the original No 32 Tamerlane, for example, a 5ft 6in 2-2-2 built for the Grand Junction Railway by Tayleur & Co and serving from 1838. In regard to the 1845-built Columbine (likewise a replacement of an 1838-built 5ft 6in 2-2-2 but this time a Rothwell, Hick & Rothwell product) given its status as the ‘first Crewe built locomotive’, it was painted dark green, with a single black line applied around the footplate side panels. When new, it had two 14½in cylinders, a working pressure of 75psi and a tractive effort of 6,825lbs. The weight of the engine and four-wheel tender was 28 tons 8cwt. While the earlier Tamerlane was offered for sale in May 1854, Columbine was given a life extension thanks to a rebuild

in 1856, but in June 1871 it became No 1198 on the duplicate list, so its time was nearly up. However, in the following December it was fortunate to find itself as one of 100 locomotives deemed to have been prematurely written off and thus they were returned to capital stock, in this case as No 1868. Rebuilt in 1875, the 2-2-2 was later transferred to the London & North Western Railway’s engineer’s department. Named Engineer. Bangor from November 1877, the 2-2-2 remained in active service until January 1902. The early-built 6ft Single was initially preserved at Crewe and in 1925 was exhibited at the British Empire Exhibition in Wembley. Today it is seen as L&NWR No 1868 at the National Railway Museum, York – a relic of the Trevithick/Allan era at Crewe. Between 1845 and 1858 a total of 398 engines of the ‘Old Crewe’ types were built at Crewe Works under the supervision of Francis Trevithick and Alexander Allan, with a further 14 assembled at Edge Hill. Doubtless it was the loss of Tamerlane as early as 1854 that led to the salvation of Columbine to represent the earliest years, but quite when the latter was first given the honour of being ‘the first Crewe locomotive’ is unclear.

Evolved over many years, Crewe Works underwent widespread reorganisation in the 1925-27 period and it seems that this 6 June 1928 line up in the Steelworks Yard is part of a celebration of the advances for the visiting Institute of Civil Engineers. The iron foundry offers a backdrop to some Crewe heritage, and a predecessor, and the timeline is an insight into Crewe pride. Nearest the camera is Rocket of Liverpool & Manchester Railway fame (actually a wooden replica built at Crewe). Next are two preserved engines, Columbine of 1845 from the GJR era – the ‘first’ Crewe engine – and then Cornwall of 1847, a Trevithick 2-2-2 rebuilt by Ramsbotton in 1858. Beyond are Webb ‘18in Goods’ or ‘Cauliflower’ 0-6-0 No 8527 of March 1900; Bowen Cooke ‘Claughton’ class 4-6-0 No 5999 Vindictive of July 1920 but recently modified with a large boiler; and Fowler ‘Royal Scot’ class 4-6-0 No 6149 Lady of the Lake of December 1927. R T Ellis Collection/LNWRS

JULY 2022

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The 1,000th locomotive outshopped from Crewe Works seems to have avoided official photography, so perhaps its emergence pre-dated the promotion of such things, certainly the only official summary of the ‘thousands’ had Ramsbottom ‘DX Goods’ No 29 (Crewe No 1367 of January 1871) standing in for classmate No 613 (Crewe No 1000) of December 1866. In our case we show ‘DX Goods’ No 788 (Crewe No 581 of October 1862) to illustrate this numerous and long-lived class. Open splashers and no cabs were the order of the day when new, so No 788 is seen after its January 1877 rebuild; it passed to the duplicate list in June 1889 and was withdrawn in May 1898. L W Perkins Collection/Kidderminster Railway Museum

The 1,000th locomotive to be constructed at Crewe Works, in December 1866, was Ramsbottom designed class ‘DX Goods’ 0-6-0 No 613. Between 1858 and 1874 a total of 943 engines of this type were mass-produced at Crewe, including 86 engines for service on the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway and two for the Portpatrick & Wigtownshire Railway. The first of these Ramsbottom 0-6-0s was completed in September 1858, No 355 Hardman, officially the 399th engine to be built at Crewe. Following the Trevithick/Allan tradition, the class was fitted with drop-down smokebox doors. Up to this point the GJR policy to name all locomotives had been continued – by the end of May 1862 some 54 of the ‘DX Goods’ 0-6-0s were named on curved brass plates over the central driving wheel – but the fourth engine had in fact broken that tradition, being un-named despite the fact that old names were available, and even the named ‘DX Goods’ 0-6-0s found themselves losing such adornments in 1864, these passing to the next generation of various Webb-designed classes for publicity purposes. The ‘DX Goods’ 0-6-0s with 1,500 gallon water capacity tenders weighed 27 tons and had a working pressure of 120psi and cylinders of 17in x 24in. With their driver’s cabs initially open to the elements, the engines were painted dark green prior to 1873, after which date the L&NWR’s black livery was applied. The 1,000th engine to be built at Crewe carried the appropriate numberplate on the cab-side,

before later receiving its service number, 613. Members of the class had their open splashers filled and gained cabs in the 1870s and No 613 was rebuilt in July 1880, all under Webb’s tenure, and then in March 1891 it passed to the duplicate list as No 3201, again prematurely as it was returned to the capital fleet as No 1813 in June 1892. The final renumbering for this 0-6-0 was as No 3285 in April 1897, and it was scrapped in December 1899; the last engine of the numerous ‘DX Goods’ class was withdrawn in 1902. It is a mark of the growth in L&NWR business that 23 years elapsed between the start of locomotive building at Crewe and the outshopping of Crewe No 1000 but that only about 9 years and 5 months passed between the 1,000th and the 2,000th locomotives entering traffic, the latter emerging in May 1876. The 2,000th engine to be completed at Crewe Works was one of a class of 50 Webbdesigned 4ft 6in 2-4-0T side tank passenger engines built between 1876 and 1880 for service in the Manchester and Birmingham areas, and between London’s Broad Street and Mansion House. Originally numbered 2000 to celebrate its part in the history of Crewe Works, it became capital stock No 2233. When first built, the lettering ‘The Two Thousandth Engine Built at Crewe Works, May 24 1876’ was painted alongside the 2000 cast numberplate affixed to the tank-side – this was the date of both Queen Victoria’s birthday and Empire Day, so possibly the

A surviving lantern slide provides this view of one of the so-called ‘Chopper Tanks’, the milestone 2,000th locomotive built at Crewe Works. Seen in lined-out photographic grey, it has been posed in the works yard when new. Fitted with a half-cab, its numberplate reads ‘L&NWR 2000 Crewe Works’ and also a note painted on the side tank states that it is ‘The two thousandth engine built at Crewe Works. May 24, 1876’. In the case of this Webbdesigned locomotive it seems that it was soon renumbered as 2233 and it would serve as such from August 1876 through to November 1897. The appellation ‘Chopper Tank’ may be a later term derived from the cutting down of five Webb 2-4-2T 4ft 6in tanks in 1905 as 2-4-0Ts, so a similar end product. LNWRS Collection

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landmark number 2000 was contrived to suit the occasion. The 2-4-0s had condensing apparatus, half-cabs, wooden buffer beams and brake blocks, and hydraulic brakes. With a boiler pressure of 150psi and cylinders of 17in diameter x 20in stroke, these engines had a working weight of 38 tons 4cwt and a tank water capacity of 860 gallons. The class survived in service until the late 1890s, No 2233 being withdrawn in November 1897 as No 3454, the latter being a so-called ‘cutup’ number. Forty engines of the series (those given ‘cut-up’ numbers) were later converted to 2-4-2T types, with the other ten 2-4-0s being retained and working the Cromford & High Peak line, the last of these engines surviving as British Railways No 58092. On scrapping, parts from the 2-4-0Ts were re-used in the building of a later series of Webb 4ft 6in 2-4-2Ts, Crewe No 2000 being withdrawn in November 1897 and ‘renewed’ before the year end as Works No 3747, which in turn was renumbered from 2233 to cut-up number 3498 when it was withdrawn from capital stock in September 1914. Crewe’s celebrated 3,000th locomotive landmark was the construction of Francis Webb’s ‘Third Series’ three-cylinder 2-(2-2)-2T divided drive Compound tank locomotive with 5ft 8½in diameter driving wheels and with one high-pressure (26in x 24in) inside cylinder and two low-pressure (14in x 20in) outside cylinders. The one-off engine was completed in July 1887 as No 3000 and carried its Crewe number for exhibition with Columbine at the

Although a one-off, Crewe No 3000 is perhaps a typical Francis Webb design in that it is both a Compound and features derived drive, and such things were not universally appreciated by Webb’s successors, indeed George Whale went on to simplify Webb’s work on a range of classes. The pictured engine is the third of four Webb Compound tank engine designs dating from the 1884-87 period – the first was a ‘Metropolitan’ 4-4-0T rebuilt as 4-(2-2)-0T; the second a 2-(2-2)-2T new build, and then the pictured engine preceded a new build 2-(2-4)-0T. To their credit, they each served into the 20th century, but even Webb wrote them off early. Once again, the provision of a numberplate denoting the Crewe number was purely for promotional purposes, with in this case No 3000 seeing service as L&NWR No 600. SLS Collection Designed for express passenger use and fitted with a water scoop, derived drive Compound 2-(2-2)-2T Crewe No 3000 found work in the Manchester area as No 600 in the capital fleet. Boasting 5ft 8½in driving wheels and 3ft 7½in trailing wheels, the experimental locomotive is recorded on the yard turntable at Manchester London Road, with the Travis Street warehouse in the right distance. The driver is in the cab entrance, holding an oiler, and the fireman and foreman pose beside bunker. No date is recorded, but as a posed shot it is likely while the locomotive was fresh news, so closer to its release to traffic in June 1887 and certainly before passing to the duplicate list as No 1963 in October 1895. E Talbot Collection/LNWRS

entrance to Queen’s Park in Crewe. The park was being presented to the town in 1887 by Sir Richard Moon, chairman of the L&NWR, to mark the joint occasion of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria (accession to the throne was 20 June 1837) and the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Grand Junction Railway (Birmingham-Warrington opened 4 July 1837), although the park did not officially open to the public until 1888. The park is to the south of the Crewe-Chester line, close to the western extremity of the works, its entrance being about 150 yards away from the railway on the south side of Victoria Avenue. Designed for express passenger work and fitted with a water scoop, for capital fleet service Crewe No 3000 was renumbered as 600. It was painted in the London & North Western Railway’s black lined-out livery, the Compound being recorded as allocated to Buxton shed. Again renumbered, in October 1895 as No 1963 on the duplicate list, it was scrapped in December 1901. The 4,000th locomotive to be built at Crewe Works was one of the 40 Webb designed four-cylinder Compound ‘Jubilee’ class 4-4-0s built by the London & North Western Railway between 1897 and 1900. They had high-pressure 15in x 24in outside cylinders and low pressure 20in x 24in inside cylinders. Completed in March 1900, the 4-4-0 had 7ft 1in diameter driving wheels and weighed 54½ tons in working order. Named La France and carrying its Crewe number, it JULY 2022

was sent to the Paris Exhibition that year and was awarded a gold medal for excellence of workmanship. In due course a reproduction of the medal was carried on the driving wheel splasher in place of the usual L&NWR coat of arms. To celebrate the occasion the Crewe workforce was granted a holiday in June 1900. La France saw service as ‘Jubilee’ No 1926, initially on the heaviest and fastest duties but very soon the class was superseded (from 1901) by the ‘Alfred the Great’ class 4-4-0s, largely similar to the ‘Jubilees’ but boasting larger boilers. The Webb Compounds were viewed by George Whale, Webb’s successor, as unreliable, and from 1908 the first ‘Jubilee’ was converted from four-cylinder Compound

Recorded at Crewe Works and looming large, this pair of 7ft 1in driving wheels (straight axle) is from Webb ‘Jubilee’ class 4-4-0 La France. The wheels have large bosses and are symmetrical all round to ease problems of casting - the balance weights go unseen in pockets at the back of the boss. The view is taken on the traverser and dates from 5 March 1900, so the locomotive was clearly in for overhaul at this time, and was already famous. E Talbot Collection/LNWRS

The L&NWR was prolific in its publication of postcards in the Edwardian heyday of such things, this view is taken from a card celebrating the appearance of Crewe No 4000 La France at the Paris Exhibition and it being awarded a gold medal for excellence of workmanship. With 163,077 miles already achieved, the view records the locomotive in photographic grey and fully lined out and with a replica of the medal affixed to the leading splasher. It is also of note that the 4-4-0 is wearing its Crewe number rather than the given capital fleet identity as No 1926. SLS Collection

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to two-cylinder Simple, the locomotive chosen being No 1918 Renown, and thus the ‘Renown’ class was created. The modified La France re-entered traffic in March 1922 and all but nine of the ‘Jubilees’ were ‘Renown’ class by the Grouping. The 4,000th locomotive to be built at Crewe Works did not gain its post-Grouping number until January 1927, thereafter running as London, Midland & Scottish Railway No 5180 La France until withdrawn in December 1931. The 5,000th locomotive to be built at Crewe Works was the celebrated ‘George the Fifth’ class 4-4-0 No 1800 Coronation. A superheated version of the earlier George Whale-designed ‘Precursor’ class 4-4-0s, the class was credited to C J Bowen Cooke and highly successful. July 1910 saw the doyen of

the class emerge as No 2663 George the Fifth, along with No 2664 Queen Mary, a saturated version as the ‘Queen Mary’ class; ten of the latter were built as a direct comparison in regard to the costs/benefits of superheating. Completed in June 1911, Crewe’s 5,000th locomotive was soon out and about carrying No 5000 on its cab-sides and named Coronation to commemorate the coronation of King George V, which took place on 22 June. In London & North Western Railway service this celebrated engine received a special lined-out black livery with brass boiler bands, burnished driving wheel centres and buffers. The royal coat-on-arms was carried below the distinctive nameplate and also on the tender sides. The unique vermillion-backed pair of brass nameplates were surmounted by a crown, with

the lettering ‘5000th engine built at Crewe Works’ on the lower part of the plates. Seemingly, Coronation ran as No 5000 for quite a while, but there is also photographic evidence of the engine as No 1800 without its nameplates and in plain black livery, seemingly in early London, Midland & Scottish Railway days, but the majority of LMS era views do show the Coronation plates carried. The locomotive’s first post-Grouping number, 5348, was finally applied during a works visit in June 1927, when it also received a Belpaire firebox, and its final running number was carried from August 1936, No 25348. Spending most of its last days working from Manchester’s Longsight depot, Coronation was withdrawn in June 1940 and broken up. Sadly, this famous 4-4-0 was not considered for preservation.

Running as No 5000, Bowen Cooke ‘George the Fifth’ 4-4-0 ‘Coronation arrives from the west at Bangor’s up platform with the Royal train, bringing King George V and Queen Mary on their visit to Bangor College on Friday, 14 July 1911. As befits such an occasion, flags and bunting are to the fore, complete with a decorated awning, and a welcoming party is on the platform. The leading carriages of the Royal train are a clerestory full brake and an 8-wheeled carriage in 12-wheel styling. Unsurprisingly, many of the views of Coronation are from the early years of the new King, so it is something of an unknown as to how long the Crewe number was carried by the locomotive before it gained the regular capital stock No 1800. Perhaps the ‘round-number’ 5000 was perceived to have an engaging ring to it, so it was kept while the locomotive was favoured for events such as that shown? H R Stones/LNWRS

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The ‘Jubilees’ found themselves at the top of the food chain for a relatively short period but still at work on the West Coast main line on some lengthy duties. This 17 May 1913 view at Kenton records ‘Jubilee’ No 1924 La France as the train engine on the up ‘Sunny South Special’, with the pilot being Webb ‘Improved Precedent’ or ‘Jumbo’ No 514 Puck. The latter was Crewe No 3596 of October 1895 and was named Lawrence until 1913. The train is made up of a Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway birdcage end brake, followed by an L&NWR elliptical roof carriage, a 12-wheel clerestory diner, and six more elliptical roof carriages. LNWRS Collection Photographed on 16 August 1936 while its ‘George the Fifth’ locomotive was running in LMS service and being renumbered from 5348 to 25348, the nameplate on Coronation is recorded at Crewe and recognises its milestone creation at the works. W L Good/SLS Collection

To traffic at Crewe on 3 June 1930, George Hughes/Henry Fowler designed mixed traffic LMS 2-6-0 No 13178 had the distinction of being the 6,000th locomotive to be built at Crewe Works. No ceremony or recognition of this milestone was afforded to the engine apart from an official photograph of the so-called ‘Horwich Mogul’ or ‘Crab’ taken alongside No 49 Columbine and a replica of the early Rocket outside the works’ erecting shop. The first new design to enter service on the LMS, a total of 245 engines of the class would be built between 1926 and 1932, Nos 13000 to 13244, 70 at Horwich Works and 175 at Crewe. Those up to No 13099 were initially painted in LMS crimson lake livery, with black lined out in red applied from new thereafter. From 1934 the class was renumbered in the 2700-2944 range, with No 13178 becoming 2878 on 8 February 1935, and then the subsequent five-digit post-nationalisation running numbers were created by merely the addition of 40000 to the previous number. In the case of the 6,000th Crewe steam locomotive it became No 42878 during a visit to St Rollox Works, the re-numbering officially being

carried out on 7 September 1948; it was based at Carlisle Kingmoor shed at the time but would soon be serving from Agecroft. The power classification was initially noted as ‘4F’ but by 1928 it was ‘5P/4F’, and then they were officially upgraded to ‘5P/5F’ from 24 March 1940, and generally ‘5F’ in the later war years. Under British Railways the class was rated ‘5MT’ from 31 August 1948 until 1955, when their highest rating was given, ‘6P/5F’ for a short period before reverting to ‘5MT’ in the mid-1960s. The ‘Crabs’ weighed 108 tons 4cwt and had a boiler pressure of 180psi, a tractive effort of 26,580lbs, a coal capacity of 5 tons and a water capacity of 3,500 gallons. In service, the 2-6-0s worked freight, passenger and excursion traffic throughout the former LMS system. No 13178/2878 was Northern Division based from 16 July 1930 – alternating between Carlisle Kingmoor and Corkerhill – until its loan from Carlisle to Agecroft was made a permanent move in the week ending 4 December 1948. Its other BR sheds proved to be Newton Heath (twice), Thornton Junction (on loan), Aintree, Gorton, Wigan L&Y,

Warrington Dallam, Springs Branch, Gorton, Lower Darwen, and finally Birkenhead from the week ending 4 September 1965, albeit with withdrawal from there noted as week ending 18 September 1965. The last survivors of the class proved to be from the same shed, Nos 42727 and 42942 remaining on the books there into January 1967. In terms of the ‘Thousands’, 15 September 1950 was a final milestone in the distinguished history of locomotive building at Crewe. On this date H G Ivatt-designed ‘2MT’ push-pull fitted 2-6-2T No 41272 emerged from the paint shop at Crewe and was celebrated as the 7,000th engine to be completed at Crewe Works. To mark the occasion, plaques reading ‘This is the seven thousandth locomotive built at Crewe Works September 1950’ were affixed to the engine’s side tanks. New to Bedford shed, No 41272 was Neasden-based from week ending 13 December 1958, and then Exmouth Junction-allocated from mid-1961. Its last three sheds were all London Midland Region sites – Leamington from July 1963, Llandudno Junction from week ending 14 November 1964, and finally Skipton Far from the glamour of being posed alongside a replica of Rocket and the genuine Columbine upon emerging from the erecting shop at Crewe when newly completed as LMS No 13178 in May 1936, in photographic grey before receiving LMS lined black livery, a mundane working befalls the 6,000th locomotive outshopped from Crewe Works, Hughes/Fowler ‘Crab’ class 2-6-0 No 42878. Recorded on the Lickey incline north of Bromsgrove, the 2-6-0 heads along the Midland main line with a train of steel-bodied 16 ton mineral wagons. The date was not recorded but the near constant reallocation of this ‘Crab’ after the autumn of 1963 leads us to the ‘9G’ shedcode on the smokebox door, at this time denoting allocation to Gorton, which means it is either from week ending 23 November 1963 until w/e 22 February 1964 (when moved to the ex-L&YR shed at Wigan) or it is in the period w/e 24 October 1964 to w/e 29 May 1965 (when reallocated to Lower Darwen); the earlier spell is thought to be the more likely. P Riley Kidderminster Railway Museum

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Clearly in its town of birth for a works visit, given its smokebox allocation denoting ‘2L’ for Leamington Spa, Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2T No 41272 is seen on Crewe North shed, the backdrop being a coaling tower and ash plant. Reference to this locomotive’s allocation history records its Leamington Spa time as 14 July 1963 to week ending 14 November 1964, when transferred to Llandudno Junction shed. It is known that this locomotive was noted as being in the erecting shop at Crewe Works on 9 February 1964, and was later espied ex-works at Crewe North on the following 12 August, which thanks to its rundown condition places this photograph as no later than early February 1964. M Roberts/Kidderminster Railway Museum

from week ending 21 August 1965; it was withdrawn from there in mid-October 1965. The outshopping of the new No 41272 as a landmark signified the end of an era at Crewe, from the early and formative days of the basic Trevithick/Allan 2-2-2 and 2-4-0 engine types to the modern Ivatt 2-6-2T design. However, there were still locomotives being built, the last of the steam era proving to be British Railways Standard ‘9F’ 2-10-0 No 92250, which was completed at Crewe in December 1958 and was recorded as the 7,331st locomotive to be built at the works and concluding a period of over a century of steam engine production. The next ‘Thousand’ proved to be the last, an HST power car, No 43031 of March 1978.

Now retired by Porterbrook, it has been donated to Crewe Heritage Centre for preservation in its town of birth. Such a moment harks back to Columbine and its initial preservation in Crewe 119 years earlier, especially as the site of today’s Heritage Centre is the earliest part of what went on to become the vast premises of Crewe Works. Locomotive construction ended in Crewe in February 1991 with class ‘91’ AC electric No 91031, with the site much reduced since then.

This view dates from 26 January 1964 and is said to have been recorded on Crewe South shed. In close-up we have the British Railways lion and wheel on the tank side of No 41272, and below that is the plate that reads ‘This is the seven thousandth locomotive built at Crewe Works, September 1950’. L W Perkins/Kidderminster Railway Museum The Crewe Works tradition is delivered in this official montage as ‘The first and each thousandth locomotive built at Crewe Works, 1845-1950’. It is presumed to date from the time that No 41272 was new to traffic. E Talbot Collection/LNWRS

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