A locomotive nameplate 'Clan Cameron'
£26,000
Auction: 24 September 2003 at 11:00 BST
Description
a deflector mounted rectangular plate from the British Railways steam loco No. 72001, which entered service in December 1951, the second in a class of ten authorised in 1949
Dimensions
15.3cm x 126cm x 3cm
Footnote
Note: The 'Clans' were the lightest of the three Standard Class pacifics (4-6-2 wheel arrangement) designed and built by BR, all of which were charaterised by high running plates to ease maintentance and smoke deflectors on which their nameplates were mounted. Although standard classes were not meant to be locally specific, the initial lot of Clans were designed with the highland lines in mind, and were later noted for fine performance on steeply graded and curvaceous routes. The choice of names was a reflection of this. There had been a previous "Clan" class built for the Highland Railway, the last of which were being withdrawn at the time the BR locos were on the stocks, and all the BR "Clans" were named after Scottish Clans. Ironically, delays in construction meant that none of the locos were allocated to the highland routes. Five (including "Clan Cameron") were based at Polmadie (Glasgow) and five at Kingmore (Carlisle). Mainly they worked south of Glasgow - the West Coast Main Line, the Settle and Carlisle route and the old Glasgow and South Western System between Carlisle, Dumfries, Stranraer and Glasgow. However, in 1956 "Clan Cameron" became the only pacific to ever work the West Highland Line. The class was designed to be rated 6MT (steam locos were given power ratings on a scale of 1-10, the MT for mixed traffic) but they were very similar in appearance to the more numerous and powerful class 7 "Britannias" and, at first, they were often allocated duties that would have been more appropriate to the latter, giving them an undeserved negative reputation. In fact they gave good service over their short lives, and more were actually under construction when, in 1962 Dr. Beeching, newly appointed to rationalise the railway system, reversed previous policy, curtailing all further construction of steam locos and ordering the immediate withdrawal of those in service. Amongst the first to go the Polmadie based "Clans", in December of that year "Clan Cameron" was moved to Parkhead (Glasgow) to be stripped for spares and, in 1964, to Darlington for cutting up.
It was at this time that Mr John C.F. Cameron acquired the nameplate, to use his own words: "At that time I was head of personnel and administration for the railway workshops, half of which were being closed down, reducing manpower by some thirty thousand. One of the Works Managers, presumably of Darlington Works, asked if I would like to buy one of the plates from "Clan Cameron", for which I had to pay the full scrap brass price, that being the value placed on them at the time." Mr Cameron had the plate mounted on the outside wall of his house, which unfortunately weathered the remains of the original enamel to necessitate repainting, but the casting remains sharp edged and crisp. The only damage to the metal is a pair of small mounting holes drilled at the back of the upper flange.