‘A stonishing’
says school
head as A
nameplate
sellsfor £52k
in aidof
family project
ByGeoffCourtneyEIGHTmonths afternameplateFlying
Scotsmanmade headlinesby sell ing
forarailwayana worldrecor dprice,a
plate from anotherPacific designedby
Nigel Gresley has scaled the heights
at auction.
Theplate from No.60103received
widespreadpublici ty last November
when it soldat aGWRailwayana
auction in Pershore for£64,500, so
settingaglobalrecor d. On July 13
it wasthe turnofKingfisherfrom A
No.60024to go under thehammer,
the platebeing on themarketforthe
first timefollowing the decisionby
the school thathad owned it since
the A4’swithdrawal to sell in aidof
fundsforafamilyeducationproject.
GW Railwayana auctioneer Simon
Turner,who had sold theFlying
Scotsmanplate eigh tmonths ago,
wasonceagain wielding the hammer.
He hadadvisedareserve of £30,000,
afigurewhich reflected the factthat,
while itwasasignificantpiece of
railwayanadue to neitherplate from
the Pacifichaving previouslycome
to auction, it maynot have quitethe
extraordinary appeal of an item from
No.60103.
In the even thewas right, but
nevertheless itwasofs ufficient
interest to silencethe hall whenit
came up.Two bidders in theroom
vied with each otheratagood pace,
the landmark£50,000wassoon
exceeded,and shortly after, Simon’s
hammer came downat £52,000,
followedbyaroun dofapplause
fromcollectors.Reaction
That maynot ha ve beenarecord
realisation,or evenarecor dfor an
A4 –thatiss till heldbyGoldenFleece
from No.60030 ,which went for£60,
in 2004–but it wasgood enoughto
send Simon offforhis half-time cup
of teawith asmile on his face. And
he wasstill smiling afterclose of pl ay,
when hesaid: “Thatexceededmy
wildestexpectations.”
Theplate wassold by Kingfisher
PrimarySchool inDoncaster, to
whomit ha dbeendonatedbyBR
years ago.School principalCatherine
Skinn said beforethe salethatthe
proceedswould gotowardsthe
renovationofacurrently unused
buildingat the school, whichisto
becomeacommunity family learningfacilityfor children andparents.
At thatstageshe,like everyone,
had littleideawhatitw ouldfetch,
but afterthe hammerwent down at
£52,000 (plus buyer’s premium) she
said: “Astonishing,out of thisworld.
We expectedperhaps £30,000, so this
result means it will nowbepossible
to equip the facilitytoasignificantly
higher level,includingITresources
and so benefitingthe futurefor
child renand parents.”
Simon, whoreduced thevendor’s
commission the schoolwould payto
boost the proceeds,was particularly
pleasedwith the outcome,
explaining:“This wasveryclose to
my heartast he schoolis near the
partofDonnyIwas bornin, and also
Icomefromateaching family.Itis
greattohelp youngsters andadults
in thisway.”
As well as beingamember of an
iconic classofs team locomotives,
No.60024 had additional appeal
due to it creatingasmallpieceofrailway historyonSeptember 14,
1966,when it became the lastA
in BRreve nue-earningservi ce on a
Glasgow-Aberdeen train.Poster appeal
Withdrawal fromAberdeen Ferryhill
(61B) camedayslater,and despiteinitial
movestos avethe 1936-builtPacific for
preservation, it wascut upat the Hughes
Bolckowscrap yard in No rthBlyth by the
end of theyear.
Meanwhile,anotherrailway auction
success wasplayedout in an Onslows’
online vintagepostersale theday
beforeKingfisherwassold,when aset
of six LNERposters sold for£18,000.
Issuedin1931, theset wastitled‘East
Coast Joys’and featuredwalkers,
beach scenes and fun on thewate r.
They werethe work of TomPurvis
(1888-1959),who wasconsidered one
of the greatest railway artis ts of his
eraand wasknown as the‘king of the
hoardings.’ Theprice excludesbuyer ’s
premium of 20% (+VAT).AbuiltinL eeds themewillbe
the keynoteoft he Pontypool
&BlaenavonRailway’s (PBR)
September 13-15 steam gala.
Oneoft he guests will be
HudswellClarke0-6-0ST
Illing worth/Mitchell,which is
owned by itsrestorerStephen
Middleton and based on the
Embsay&BoltonAbbeySteam
Railway.Initially suppliedto the
MinistryofMunitionsat Gretna
Green, itwasboughtbyBradford
Corporation in 1922forthe NiddValleyLightRailway and it is now
the only surviving locomotive
from thatline.
Asecond guest will be
1943-built Hunslet 0-6-0ST,
BrookesNo.1from theMiddleton
Railway.Itisthe only surviving
locomotiveofi ts class (i.e.with
14in diametercylinders).
Earlier thisyear,Hunslet 0-6-0ST
Eastmoors No.18Jessiearrived
at Blae navon. It is no wonatwo-
monthloan to Embsay, whereits
first dayinaction wasJuly 13.When Leeds comes to Blaenavon
Writetous:Heritage Railway,MortonsMediaLtd,POBox43,Horncastle, LincsLN 96 LZ. eritagerailway.co.uk 11
we hopethatasaresult of our
tragedy,operating companiesup
anddownthe countr ywill taketheir
responsibilitiesto the travelling
public moreseriously.”
TheORR began making moves
to implementadditional safety
measures shortly af terthe tragedy.
Ian Prosser,the ORR’s director of
safet y, said :“We have writtento
operators instructing themto take
action to preventasimilar tragedy
happening again.”
Quoted in the national press,a
spokesmanforthe NorthernBelle
said:“This is goingto cost millions
–around£20,000acarriagejust
to installcentrallocking on each
carriage.However,you cannot put a
priceonsafet yand obviou slywewill
comply as soon aspossible.
“Barsover the drop-down
windows will spoilthe appearance
of these Mk.1 carriages though,
some of which have been in usefor
up to 70 yearswithout anyother
incidentoft his kind.”
As reportedini ssue 231,twodays
afterthe tragedy,apairofB luebell
Railway locomotivesin service
carried wreaths out ofrespectfor
Simon, who had been aboutto
buy ahouse with hisgirlfriend.A
fundraising page set upto raise
£1000forMrBrown’s funeralcosts
collectedmorethan £9000.Trainofthought:LNERA4No. 60024Kingfisher,one
ofwhosenameplatessoldfor£52,000at aGWRailwayana
auctiononJuly13,atG rant shouseclose to theScotland-
Englandborder,withan ECMLexpressintheearly-1950s.
TRANSPORTTREASURYBelo w:ThesetofsixLNERpostersthat
soldfor£18,000atan Onslows’auctiononJuly12.ONSLOWSTheBrighterSteamNewsMagazine
http://www.heritagerailway.co.uk