Loco plates,
and in particular nameplates, are the "premier
league" of the railwayana world, if only because of the
prices. In fact, there are much more interesting artifacts to collect,
as there is little that is not known or has not been researched to death
in the locomotive field.
This page
deals with nameplates, number plates (cabside and smokebox) and
worksplates (builders' plates) from British mainline locomotives.
Nameplates
Naming locos
seems to have been a peculiarly British thing. A number of books are
available on the subject including "British Locomotive
Names of the Twentieth Century" H C Casserley/Ian Allan,
"Nameplates of the Big Four" Frank Burridge/OPC and
"Nameplates on Display" Ian Wright/Pennine Publications. Check
the last to see whether your favourite plate is in public hands before
setting your heart on acquiring it!
Any nameplate
from a mainline loco is expensive. Industrials, i.e. locos which worked
in collieries etc, and names of overseas locos, are considerably
cheaper. The world record highest price is £60,000, for LNER
"Golden Fleece" sold at Sheffield in December 2004.
I
maintain a list showing the top nameplates at auction - the Top
50 - listing the most expensive plates at auction.
Mainline
steam loco nameplates
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A plate from a GWR "Saint"
class 4-6-0. To many, the Great Western's plates
epitomised what a nameplate should look like. The letters were
not spread out in this fashion on later GWR plates. Lalla
Rookh, incidentally, was not a character out of a Walter Scott
novel (a number of "Saints" were thus named) but the
heroine of the eponymous "oriental romance" written
by Thomas Moore in the early 19th century, and for its day, a
major best-seller. Thomas Moore himself was commemorated
on an LNWR "Prince of Wales" class loco.
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The
first "King" class nameplate sold at auction,
October 2000. This shows the final style of letter
spacing.
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"Castle" and "Grange"
plates shown together. This shows the difference in
radius. The Grange is one of the longer plates.
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The reverse of a GWR nameplate, which
were unique in construction, most other companies' plates
being cast. GWR plates are rather light in weight compared to
cast brass. The rivets securing the individual letters to the
steel backplate can be clearly seen, as can the corrosion
where the plate has been fastened to a bracket. Later GWR
plates (and GWR designed named locos built by BR) had half
round beading instead of the full round shown here.
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LNER "Footballer" from a B17
4-6-0. The football is a hollow brass hemisphere,
secured by a central bolt. The team colours here are a
bit suspect. This was the team known as Bradford Park
Avenue, which has the unfortunate distinction of having
disappeared from the league. Another loco was named
"Bradford City", the actual team now generally being
known as just "Bradford".
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Reverse of the football from a B17.
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LNER D49 "Hunt" class.
The fox faced forward on each side. It is detachable,
hence a number disappeared in service and replacements were
provided, some of them at the time of disposing of the plates,
so they were never carried. Collectors generally prefer the
original foxes which have smooth "fur" from
polishing over the years (as the one shown). The original LNER
loco numbers are stamped into the back of the foxes from
certain locos (not all, it is not a guide to
originality).
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BR (ER) A1. While the A2s and A4s
had the famous LNER Gill Sans lettering, the later A1s had a
more chunky font. These LNER plates are very heavy.
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The rear of the above A1 nameplate with
the names of previous plates cast from this pattern stamped
into the pattern. Note how the same backplates were used
for (in chronological order) A4s, A2s and A1s. Notice how
LNER plates (same for Britannias) fixed from the rear, unlike,
say, the LMS straight plates. "City of Carlisle" for
instance has no less than 16 fixing holes. Note that the
bolt in the top LH corner of this A1 plate has been burnt off.
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Reverse
of Gresley B17 nameplate, showing cast in brackets and
ribs. The A3s are similar. The plates have no
bottom rim on the front and don't look so good unless mounted
on a false splasher. Another very heavy plate.
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Detail of the front of the
above B17 plate ("Elveden").
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Nameplate from a B1. The first batch of
locomotives were named, somewhat esoterically, after
antelopes. These were shaped to fit the side of the
smokebox, the plates being thicker at the top than the bottom.
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A "double-line" plate from an
ex-LMS "Royal Scot". This plate, from 46162, never
had a crest and was one of the few to be painted red.
The other side is in the NRM at York. These
"double-liners" are very heavy.
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Badged LMS "Patriot"
plates. LMS badged-plates, from "Royal Scots",
"Patriots" and a few "Jubilees" are
generally highly sought after.
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A
pair of Jubilees. I think these are very pretty little plates.
Others were named after admirals and ships.
(photo
of Baroda courtesy Ian Wright)
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LMS "Coronation" class plate.
Plates for the streamlined locos were chromed originally.
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Reverse of "City of
Carlisle". It is possible to see traces of the
original chrome plating. To accommodate one of the boiler
lagging bands, a vertical slot has been made, which also has the
benefit of enabling one to determine which side of the loco the
plate is from. This is from the right hand side.
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Southern Railway "King Arthur"
plates. "Prianius" is a spelling mistake - there
was no such Arthurian knight of that name. For a quick and
irreverent introduction to Arthurian legend visit Lugodoc's
site.
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Close-up of Sir Tristram showing wear on
the bolt hole. Horizontal scoring on Southern plates seems to be
common. I have heard a suggestion that this may be due to
running the locos through carriage cleaning plants. It would be
difficult to pass off a repro as an original.
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Southern Railway "Schools" class,
"Eton" below a "King Arthur".
"Eton" has been skimmed, a no-no when it comes to
restoration. Sir Lavaine is in original condition.
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SR "West Country" shield and
scroll, mounted on a painted wooden stand.
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Reverse of a "West Country"
plate. The plates are planed on the back, and bosses are welded
on to provide support for the mounting bolts.
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SR "Battle of Britain" class, and
a former world record holder. The nameplate is in the
shape of an aircraft wing. (photo: courtesy Ian Wright)
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SR "Merchant Navy" class plate.
Check the enamel centre before buying as the condition of this
is important. A number have been "restored"
indifferently although, being enamel, it should be possible to
strip off poor restoration jobs. Traditionally, collectors
separated these into the Southern locos (35001-19) and the rest
although in practice, I don't think the market makes much of a
distinction.
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The "ears" of
Merchant Navy plates are attached with a couple of very short
countersunk set screws. These would not be sufficient to hold
them securely in service, and the ears were themselves bolted to
the cladding or support
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"Classic
traction" plates
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"Warship" class plates. |
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Nameplate
and crest on Class 50 008 (photo courtesy Brian Matthews)
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Swindon
style font on Class 47 D1665. This photo was taken many
years ago at the stabling point which existed for a few years on
the site of the old Crewe North shed.
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Nameplate
of Class 40 D215 / 40015. An early batch allocated to the
West Coast Main Line was named after passenger liners. (photo
courtesy Brian Matthews)
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An impressive selection of
"Peak" names. |
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The
plate and crest on "Peak" Class 45 014. (photo courtesy
Brian Matthews)
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Class
47 677 (D1742). An example of a naming for
publicity/goodwill purposes. In fairness, such namings also
took place in steam days. (photo courtesy Brian Matthews)
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Numberplates
Loco
numbers tend to appeal to the die-hard enthusiast, as a number by itself
is not very evocative to the general public. The Great Western had to be
different of course, having large cast brass cabside number plates (and
cast iron on lesser locos), which was presumably the reason why GWR locos
were not renumbered on nationalisation in 1948.
GWR
cabsides
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Brass
plate from a "Manor" class loco. |
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Cast
iron plate from a 2-6-0. |
GWR
"cabsides" are generally in demand, and can be very expensive,
depending on "status" of the loco concerned. "King"
class 6001 sold in March 2002 for £24,200, substantially more than many
mainline nameplates. Note that, somewhat counter-intuitively, plates
from preserved locos tend to be less valuable than plates from locos no
longer in existence. The reasons for this are not entirely clear, although
replica plates are frequently sold for preserved locos and perhaps this
detracts.
Smokebox
numberplates
These
were fixed to most steam locos in BR days, following on from an LMS
practice. Smokebox numbers are less impressive, but for those
collectors whose interest in railways arose through train-spotting,
perhaps the front number is the most evocative item of all. Forgeries are
not unknown in this segment of the market so be careful.
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LM
"Jubilee" class. |
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BR
"Standard" (upper) and ER O4. Notice difference in
size. The Standard plates were flat, like WR plates,
and were fitted to brackets over the top hinge strap. |
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Reverse
of O4 plate |
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WR
"Manor" class plate plus shedcode. |
The
size and pattern of smokebox numberplates varies
significantly. Plates from ex-GW and "Standard" classes are
large and flat, as they were mounted on brackets in front of the top
smokebox door hinge. The rear of plates for ex-LNER and LMS locos are
shaped to fit the curvature of the smokebox door. Some castings have
pattern record numbers on the reverse.
Worksplates
Worksplates
or builders' plates (the plate recording the date and place of manufacture
of the locomotive) are very collectible. In many ways, a worksplate
is superior to both a nameplate and a number plate, as it is usually
fairly obvious what it is, and the designs are frequently attractive. Some
collectors specialise in this area, seeking examples of as wide a range of
different builders and designs as possible. Worksplates are also one of
the few collectables from foreign locos, railway systems outside the UK
generally being very parsimonious when it comes to embellishments to locos
or trackside.
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A
wonderful display of worksplates, at Fawley in July 1999.
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Further
desirable examples.
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Main
line steam locos in the UK were sourced from a mixture of the railway
companies' own workshops and private manufacturers. While worksplates from
private builders are almost universal, the mainline companies' policy
varied regarding locos built in their own workshops. Presumably because
they had cast smokebox numberplates, LMS locos had minimalist worksplates
recording where built and date, but with nothing to record the actual loco
number. Although attractive in their simple design, it is difficult to
attribute these plates to any one locomotive, although from time to time
sufficient provenance is demonstrated to attribute them to particular
locos.
The
LNER used wonderful, large engraved plates on some locos. Unfortunately,
many of these had the "LNER" filled in post nationalisation.
Lacking any cast number plates, the LNER applied worksplate style
numberplates to most of its locos, generally know as "nine by
fives", being the dimensions of these oval plates, in inches. These
are not desperately attractive but as they do record the loco's number,
they have some appeal.
