| SR 21C151 / BR 34051 Winston Churchill | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 34051 Winston Churchill at Didcot | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
21C151 Winston Churchill is a Southern Railway Battle of Britain class 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive that has been preserved as part of the United Kingdom's National Collection. It is on display at the Locomotion Museum at Shildon.
21C151 was built at Brighton Works in 1946, being released to traffic on 30 December of that year. [1] Initially it was unnamed and paired with 4,500-imperial-gallon (20,000 L; 5,400 US gal) tender 3301. It was first allocated to Salisbury locomotive shed for services on the West of England Main Line between London and Exeter.
21C151 was officially named Winston Churchill in a ceremony at Waterloo railway station on 11 September 1947. The former prime minister, by then Leader of the Opposition, was offered the chance to name the locomotive, but turned it down, claiming a prior engagement. [2] The locomotive was named by Lord Dowding, who also named his own eponymous locomotive at the same ceremony. Churchill was the only person to decline the opportunity to name a Battle of Britain class locomotive after himself. [3]
In July/August 1947 it had its original flat-front cab altered to a more streamlined wedge-shaped, with a larger front window. [1]
It passed to British Railways in January 1948 as part of nationalisation of Britain's railways. However it was October 1948 before it received its British Railways number 34051. It also kept its Southern Railway malachite green with chrome yellow striping until November 1950 when it was repainted into British Railways Brunswick green. [1]
During an overhaul at Eastleigh Works in March 1949, 34051 swapped its tender (number 3301) for tender number 3280, formerly coupled to 21C128 Eddystone (tender 3301 was then attached to 34042 Dorchester). [1]
In February 1950, 34051 moved to Nine Elms locomotive shed in London, and continued to work the West of England Main Line, as well as the Waterloo to Weymouth line. In August that year it had another change of tenders, 3280, its old tender, going to 34065 Hurricane, while 34051 gained tender number 3316 (which 34067 Tangmere had had from new). [1] It would keep this tender for the rest of its British Railways service.
In April 1951 it was reallocated to Exmouth Junction shed, on the eastern outskirts of Exeter. Its opportunities to wander the network of branchlines west of Exeter known as 'The Withered Arm', were cut short when its allocation was changed to Salisbury only two months later.
It stayed at Salisbury for the rest of its career, becoming the shed's 'pet' locomotive, even being noted on the Salisbury and Dorset Junction Railway line in June 1959 on the front of a Salisbury–Wimborne cattle train. [4]
During a General Repair at Eastleigh Works in November/December 1954, 34051 had its boiler pressure reduced from 280 to 250 lbf/in2 (1.93 to 1.72 MPa). At its next General, six years later, it was fitted with a speedometer and Automatic Warning System apparatus, and tender 3316 had its cosmetic high-sides removed. [1]
On 24 January 1965, Sir Winston Churchill died. His state funeral on 30 January 1965 saw his coffin process up the River Thames on the MV Havengore before being transferred to Waterloo Station. A special train had been laid on to take the family to Handborough, seven miles north-west of Oxford. Handborough was the closest station to the parish church of Bladon where Churchill's body was to be interred. The train comprised: [5]
The hearse was a Southern Railway 53 ft 3 in (16.23 m) Gangwayed Bogie Luggage van, no. 2464, which was built in 1931 as part of a batch of 30. It had been withdrawn from normal service in 1961, and was set aside and repainted into the Pullman cream and umber colours in July 1962. The van was kept out of public gaze in Stewarts Lane carriage sheds. [8] [9]
While being prepared, the locomotive carried the four discs in an inverted 'T' formation—the headcode for a Royal train, [10] [11] [12] but this was subsequently changed. The headcode used while pulling the special was one disc on each side of the locomotive's smokebox, and a third in the middle of the bufferbeam—a 'V' formation evoking Churchill's 'V for Victory' sign. [5] [13] In reality, that headcode would normally only have been used for a breakdown train. [11] [12]
The train was routed via Barnes, Twickenham, Virginia Water, Ascot, Wokingham and Reading, [14] where it left the Southern Region and joined the Western Region. The train continued to Handborough via Didcot East and North Junctions and Oxford. 34051 then retraced its route back to London light engine, [14] the special train being taken back to Paddington by 'Western' class diesel-hydraulic D1015 Western Champion. [14]
34051 was withdrawn later that year on 19 September 1965, having covered 807,496 miles (1,299,539 km). [1]
After hauling Churchill's funeral train, 34051 was earmarked for preservation, so in November 1965, 34051 was moved to Hellifield for storage. It later spent some time at the Didcot Railway Centre. It then resided at the National Railway Museum in York, as part of the UK National Collection. Repainting of the engine was completed at the Mid-Hants Railway at Ropley, Hampshire in December 2014 after which the engine was returned to York for display in the National Railway Museum in time for the 50th anniversary of the death of Winston Churchill on 20 January 2015, but the locomotive remains non-operational. [15] In 2016 it was moved to the NRM's Shildon Locomotion Museum.[ citation needed ]
All six cars used in Churchill's funeral train survive in preservation, [6] [7] with two Pullmans and the hearse van having spent several years in the United States. S2464S has been on the Swanage Railway since being repatriated. It has been repainted into Pullman umber and cream and is now operational.
A tender or coal-car is a special rail vehicle hauled by a steam locomotive containing its fuel and water. Steam locomotives consume large quantities of water compared to the quantity of fuel, so their tenders are necessary to keep them running over long distances. A locomotive that pulls a tender is called a tender locomotive. Locomotives that do not have tenders and carry all their fuel and water on board the locomotive itself are called tank locomotives or tank engines.
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Coronation Class is a class of express passenger steam locomotives designed by William Stanier. They were an enlarged and improved version of his previous design, the LMS Princess Royal Class, and on test were the most powerful steam locomotives ever used in Britain at 2,511 dbhp. The locomotives were specifically designed for power as it was intended to use them on express services between London Euston and Glasgow Central; their duties were to include the hauling of a proposed non-stop express, subsequently named the Coronation Scot. The first ten locomotives of the Coronation class were built in a streamlined form in 1937 by the addition of a steel streamlined casing. Five of these ten were specifically set aside to pull the Coronation Scot. Although a later batch of five unstreamlined locomotives was produced in 1938, most of the ensuing Coronation class were outshopped as streamliners. From 1944 until production ended in 1948, all-new engines were built in unstreamlined form and all the streamliners had their casings removed. The last of the 38 locomotives was completed in 1948.
The Blue Pullmans were luxury trains used from 1960 to 1973 by British Rail. They were the first Pullman diesel multiple units, incorporating several novel features.
The LSWR N15 class was a British 2–cylinder 4-6-0 express passenger steam locomotive designed by Robert Urie. The class has a complex build history spanning three sub-classes and ten years of construction from 1918 to 1927. The first batch of the class was constructed for the London and South Western Railway (LSWR), where they hauled heavy express passenger trains to the south coast ports and further west to Exeter. After the Lord Nelsons, they were the second biggest 4-6-0 passenger locomotives on the Southern Railway. They could reach speeds of up to 90 mph (145 km/h).
The SR West Country and Battle of Britain classes, collectively known as Light Pacifics or informally as Spam Cans, or "flat tops", are air-smoothed 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotives designed for the Southern Railway by its Chief Mechanical Engineer Oliver Bulleid. Incorporating a number of new developments in British steam locomotive technology, they were amongst the first British designs to use welding in the construction process, and to use steel fireboxes, which meant that components could be more easily constructed under wartime austerity and post-war economy.
The SR U class are 2-6-0 steam locomotives designed by Richard Maunsell for passenger duties on the Southern Railway (SR). The class represented the penultimate stage in the development of the Southern Railway's 2-6-0 "family", which improved upon the basic principles established by GWR Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) George Jackson Churchward for Great Western Railway (GWR) locomotives. The U class design drew from experience with the GWR 4300s and N classes, improved by applying Midland Railway ideas to the design, enabling the SECR to influence development of the 2-6-0 in Britain.
The Q Class is a type of 0-6-0 steam locomotive designed by Richard Maunsell of the Southern Railway and constructed immediately prior to the Second World War for use on medium-distance freight trains throughout the network. Twenty locomotives were built by Maunsell's successor, Oliver Bulleid, in 1938. The design was relatively old-fashioned and the class was soon afterwards eclipsed by Bulleid's own more powerful Q1 class. Nevertheless the locomotives performed adequately and reliably on the tasks for which they had been designed, until their withdrawal in 1965. Only one has survived, and is preserved on the Bluebell Railway.
Hanborough railway station is a railway station in the village of Long Hanborough in Oxfordshire, England, serving the village and surrounding district. As a result of the Cotswold Line being singled the former up platform is the only one now in use for both up and down trains. It is served by Great Western Railway trains between London Paddington and Worcester Shrub Hill. It is also the nearest station to the towns of Woodstock and Witney.
Long Hanborough is a village in Hanborough civil parish, about 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Witney in West Oxfordshire, England. The village is the major settlement in Hanborough parish. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 2,630.
The London and South Western Railway L12 class was a class of 20 4-4-0 steam locomotives designed for express passenger work by Dugald Drummond. They were introduced to the London and South Western Railway network in 1904. Despite the class being an unremarkable continuation of the Drummond lineage, one member was involved in the infamous Salisbury rail crash in June 1906. None of the class survived into preservation after their brief career in British Railways ownership.
The SECR N class was a type of 2-6-0 ("mogul") steam locomotive designed in 1914 by Richard Maunsell for mixed-traffic duties on the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR). Built between 1917 and 1934, it was the first non-Great Western Railway (GWR) type to use and improve upon the basic design principles established by GWR Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) George Jackson Churchward. The N class was based on the GWR 4300 Class design, improved with Midland Railway concepts.
The Devon Belle was a luxury express passenger train in England which ran between London Waterloo station and Ilfracombe and Plymouth in Devon in the years from 1947 to 1954.
A funeral train carries a coffin or coffins (caskets) to a place of interment by railway. Funeral trains today are often reserved for leaders, national heroes, or government officials, as part of a state funeral, but in the past were sometimes the chief means of transporting coffins and mourners to graveyards. Many modern era funeral trains are hauled by operationally restored steam locomotives, due to the more romantic image of the steam train against more modern diesel or electric locomotives, although non-steam powered funeral trains have been used.
The Brighton Belle was a named train which was operated by the Southern Railway and subsequently by British Rail from Victoria Station in London to Brighton, on the Sussex coast. Commissioned as the flagship of the Southern Railway's mass electrification project, which commenced in January 1931, the world's only electric all-Pullman service ran daily between London Victoria and Brighton from 1 January 1933 until 30 April 1972.
The SECR N1 class was a type of 3-cylinder 2-6-0 ('mogul') steam locomotive designed by Richard Maunsell for mixed traffic duties, initially on the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR), and later operated for the Southern Railway (SR). The N1 was a development of the basic principles established by the Great Western Railway's (GWR) Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) George Jackson Churchward and by Maunsell's previous N class design.
The SECR K class was a type of 2-6-4 tank locomotive designed in 1914 by Richard Maunsell for express passenger duties on the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR), which operated between London and south-east England. The Southern Railway (SR) K1 class was a three-cylinder variant of the K class, designed in 1925 to suit a narrower loading gauge. They were among the first non-Great Western Railway (GWR) types to use and improve upon the basic design principles of power and standardisation established by GWR Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) George Jackson Churchward. The locomotives were based on the GWR 4300 class, improved by the Midland Railway's ideals of simplicity and ease of maintenance.
Reading Southern railway station is a former railway station in Reading, Berkshire, England, located to the south of Reading General station on the Great Western main line.
West Auckland railway station served the villages of St Helen Auckland and West Auckland in County Durham, England, between 1833 and 1962. It was on the railway line between Bishop Auckland and Barnard Castle. There was a locomotive depot, which was the only one to be both closed completely and later reopened by the London and North Eastern Railway.
Ashford Steam Centre was a short-lived railway museum at Willesborough, Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom. It was located at the former engine shed that was situated east of Ashford railway station. The museum opened in 1968 and closed in 1976.
21C153 Sir Keith Park is a Southern Railway Battle of Britain class 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive that has been preserved. It became a permanent resident at the Spa Valley Railway in September 2020, where it was operational until the expiry of its boiler ticket in May 2022.
