Could youdisplayaclassic
locomotivenameplate?
THE Railway Correspondence and
Travel Society(RCTS)isl ookingfor
new‘homes’todisplay locomotive
nameplatesfromits collection.
In aceremonyatt he
BuckinghamshireRailway Centre
on June 9, thevenue’s vice
presidentDavePotter accepted
GreatCentralRailway 11E(LNER
D10)Director 4-4-0 nameplate
SirEdwardFraser,on lo an forpublic
dis playint he stati on building at
QuaintonRoad.
Thelocomotivewas builtin1 913
and finally withdrawninOctober
1955.It carriedfour numbers
during its life, init ially 432for
the GCR, 5432 under the LNER,
followedbyachangeto 2653 in1946, and latterly 62653forBR.
Likeothers of the class,it
wasnamed afterGCR director
boardmembers.
TheRCTScurrently has other
nameplatesondisplay, including
onefromthe stra ightplatesfrom
GWRKing 4-6-0 No.6014 at Didcot,
and anotherKing plate is on loan
to theSevernValleyRailway,
along with thatfromGWR SaintSir
MasseyLopes.
TheBluebellRailway hostsBeachy
HeadandTheGreenKnight,while
the Isle ofWightSteam Railway
appropriately hasRydefrom an O2
Class 0-4-4T.SheffieldUnitedand
SheffieldWednesdayaretobefound
side by side inahotel inSheffield,and theSouthYorkshireTransport
Museum hasPrinceGeorge.
Astatementfromthe RCTS said:
“Appropriate homesarestill sought
forplatesrelevanttot he LSWR,
LNWR and LMS, the latter being a
particularly interesting plate froman LMS Jubilee.Ifa ny heritage
lines or museums having specific
connectionsto thes ecompanies,
and having securedisplayfacilities,
would be interested in discussing
aloan pleasecontactthe RCTS at
[email protected]”TheSirEdwardFrasernameplateinfront oftherelocatedRewley Road,Oxford
stationbuildingat QuaintonRoad.WJFREEBURYA3PacificNo.60103FlyingScotsmanhead ssouthth roughDeepingSt James,
betweenSpaldingandPeterborough,onalightenginemove onMarch18.Should
theworld ’s mostfamousstea mlocomotiveberefer redtoas‘she’?ROBINJONESGender dilemmafor locomotive owners
andmuseums aftersigns vandalised
ByHughDoughertyTHEScottishMaritimeMuseum(SMM),
which includesdisplaysonrailway-
owned steamers,has decreedthat
ships,locomotives and other pieces of
machinerywill nowbereferredtoin
gender-neutral language.Thewords
‘she’and‘her’havenowbeen officially
dropped from displays,printand
online material.
DirectorDavidManntook the
decision aftertheterm‘she’was
scratched off information boards
referringtoships.
“Asacharity, wecan’t afford
tocontinuallyreplacecostly
information boards,” said David.
“Societyhas movedoninhow
objects arereferredto,and from now
onwe’ll use gender-neutral language
when describingexhibits.”
Controversy
Themovehassparkedcontroversy and
underlines the diverse approach taken
byheritagerailwaysand museums
across thecountry. In railwayculture,
just as ships havetraditionally been
referredtoas ‘she’, railwaylocomotives,
andsteam engines,especially,
haveoftenbeenreferredtoas‘she’,
particularly as manycarryfeminine
names,such as the LMSPrincess or
Duchess classes.
Simon Baylis,the NationalRailway
Museum’s PR andcommunications
manager,saidthe museumreceived
an enquiryabout thetopic from a
member of the public asaresultof
the SMM storyhitting the press.
Simon said:“We’vealwaystaken
the stancethatobjects aregender
neutral and this is the case across
theScienceMuseum Group.There
will,ofcourse,bemembers of the
public whorefertofavouriteengines
as‘she’, especially locomotives such
asDuchesses but that’suptothem.
Weusuallyrefertoenginesbyname
and number.”
GlasgowLife, which curatesthe
historic steam locomotives in its
collectionatthe city’sRiverside
Museum,confirmed thatgender
neutraltermsareusedforsteam
locomotives andforall vehicles
and models in itscollection, while aquick strawpoll of heritagerailways
showedthatfew hadapolicyorhad
considered the possible impactof
the issuesraisedbythe SMM case.
Severalreferredtolocomotives
asfemale in their publicity, with
footplatecrewsreferringtotheir
charges as‘she’.Official guidance
TheHeritageRailwayAssociation,
which issuesaseries of guidancenotes
tomembers on operationalsafety,
artefactcollections and governance,
does not carryanyadviceon itswebsite
on using or not employing gender-neutral language. Heritagerailways
which areaccreditedmuseums,
havetoadheretothe policies of the
accreditationbodies,whichrequire
gender neutralterminologytobe used.
Aheritage linevolunteer,who
did notwanttobe namedforfear
of beingbrandedreactionary
or targeted on social media,
claimed thatapplying gender
neutral languagetohistoric
railwaylocomotiveswasdriven
bypoliticalcorrectness andwas
historically misleading.
He said thatwhentoday’s
preservedengines andcoachesran
in everydayservice, it wasnormal
practiceforrailwaymentorefer
tothem as‘she’, andifheritage
railwaysarepresentingatrue,
historical pictureofthe steam age
as itwas, then suchtermsshould be
usedtoday.
“Wehave tobe careful thatwe
arenot dictatedtobythe politically
correctorthatwestarttorewrite
history. If asteam locowasreferred
tocustomarily during itsworking
lifeas‘she’, and‘she’isnowin action
onaheritage line,then it is utterly
appropriatethat‘she’continues
tobereferredtoasfemale.Thatis
showing no one anydisrespectas
lococrewshavealwaysput their
charges onapedestal and treated
them as ladies in everysense of the
word,”saidthevolunteer.
➜HeritageRailway’shousestyl eand
thatofo ther titles has alwaysbeen to
refertol ocomotivesas‘it’. However,
whatdoreadersthink of this issue?
Please let us have your views.Writetous:Heritage Railway,MortonsMediaLtd,POBox43,Horncastle, Lincs LN 96 LZ. Heritagerailway.co.uk 27