No.D829Magpiepass es Woking with the 11.00Waterloo-ExeteronSeptember 13, 1964.BRIAN STEPHENSONSEVENFORASECRET
NEVERTOBETOLD...
As celebrity‘Warships’go,No. D829Magpieenjoyedroyal st atus andthe TVspotlight
throughthe children’s seriesoft he same name.The classfinishedonBritish Railways
in Dece mber 1972,but rumourscontinuedtocirculate throughout thefollowing
yearsthatthe Thames TVprogrammewantedtosavethe lo comotivefor preservation.
However,thankstonewly reve aled documents, thefull andfasci nati ng st orycan now
be told. Diesel-hydraulichistorian, author andresearcherAdrian Curtisreports.
W
hen celebrity‘Warships’ are
mentioned,theusual suspects are
trotted out.
The preservedduoofNos.
D821GreyhoundandD832Onslaughtarespoken
of in the same breath as the one that got away–
D818Glory–scrapped atSwindonfollowing the
decision to close SwindonWorks in the1980s.
But therewas another member ofthe
Class 42 examples with,perhaps, moreofa
celebrity pedigree thanalloft hese, and that
locomotive was No. D829Magpie.
The loco wasdrivenbythe Dukeof
Edinburgh, and in1969 found famewhenitwas
adopted by the new Thames TVprogramme
Magpie,which was producedand packagedfor
kids asamore‘street cred ’rival to theBBC’s Blue
Peter.After enteringintotraffic from Swindonon
November 23, 1960,No. D829 first foundfame
at the Golden Jubilee celebrations atMarylebone
goodsstationonMay 12, 1961.This wasan
exhibitionof locomotives androllingstock,
arrangedbythe BritishTransportCommission
(BTC) tomark the 50th anniversaryoft he
Institutionof Locomotive Engineers.Royalvisitor
It wa satten dedbymorethan600 members
and their guests.The institutionwas honoured
by the presenceof HRH Prince Philip, Duke
of Edinburgh, whohad accepted the council’s
invitationtovisitthe exhibition.
The Duke wasreceivedby thepresidentof
the institution,DCBrown CBE,and wasthen
presented to his party,which included suchluminaries as Sir BrianRoberts on, chai rman of
theBTC,whose name adornedthe first ‘Warship’
No. D800; DrRichard Beeching,
part-timememberoft he BTCand chairman
designate ofthefutureBritish RailwaysBoard;
RCBond, past-president, technicaladviser to the
BTC; SirWilliam Stanier FRS,past-president;and
JFHarrison,president-elect,and chief mechanical
engineer,BRcentral staff.
Followingonfromthe presentation,the
Duke was invitedto remove aUnion Jack flag
that covered th enameofMagpie.Thiswas not
anamingceremony as the locomotivehadleft
Swindonin November1960 carrying theplates.
No, itwasdone asagestur etot he Prince who
commandedjustone naval warship duringhissea
caree rand that wasthe frigateHMSMagpie.
In July 1950,hehad beenpromoted toTHEMAGPIESTORY