Railwayana

Geoff Courtney's regular column.

ONEo f the railwayanaa uction house principals recently ventured the suggestion that I perhaps concentrated too much on nameplates in my reports, to the detriment of other categoriest hat many collectorsa lsof ound interesting. A s I respect his judgment it was a thought on which I dwelt, even though I reckoned that this column goes some way to highlighting many of the lower order, less mainstream successes.

Then, though, came GW Railwayana's sale on July 25, and there was only one route I could take- nameplates. Every one of the 10 main line steam plates sold, with eight of them filling the eight highestr ealisationsa nd the remaining two not far behind. So here are the details, but do persevere aso ther categoriesa lsor eceivea well- deserved mention.

Nameplates

Top of the tree was ViscounHt orne, a late addition to the auction that made £ 18,300T. hisw as carriedb y GWRC astle class No. 5086, which emerged from Swindon in December 1937, having been a rebuild of Star No. 4066. At£ 15,000 came4 1S quadronw ith badgef rom SR Battleo f BritainP acificN o. 3 4076, a nd in third place Planetfrom LMS Patriot No. 4 5545( £ 10,400) t, h us ensuringt hree of the Big Four were able to strut their stuff in the top order.

Two other five- figure nameplate realisationsw ere SierraL eone( LMS Jubilee No. 45627 -£ 10,300) and Morgan Le Fay from SR King Arthur No. 30750, which went under Simon Turner's hammerf or exactly£ 10,000T. wo closelymatched nameplates that followed were ComptonC astlei, n itially carriedb y GWR

No. 5047, then by No. 5072, and finally by No. 5 099 (£ 8600) a, nd LordK itchenerfrom LNWR No. 2401 / LMS No. 5919 (£ 8100).

Rounding off the top eight at £ 6800 was IrishG uardsmanfr om LMSR oyal Scot No. 46116 - this plate, with those from Nos. 34076, 45545, 45627 and 2401, being from the collection of former'Black Fiveo' wner the lateT edW atkinson.

At thisj uncture the top sellersin three other categoriesg ot into the act - headboard Toe Red Dragon'from the London- south Wales express (£ 6000), an EnglishE lectricw orksplatef rom 1968- builtC lassS Od ieselN o. 4 38/ 50038 Formidable( £ 5200) a, nd BR( Mt) o tem station sign Northampton Castlea, lsoa t £ 5200.

A return to the final two main line steam nameplates then ensued, GWR duo ThornbridgeH alff rom No. 6 964 (£ 4800) a nd SaintV incenftr om No. 2 930 (£ 4600) T. he leadings teamw orksplate was a 1925 Robert Stephenson & Co of Darlington ( works No. 3896) from Somerset& DorsetJ oint RailwayC lass 7F2 - 8- 0N o. 5 3810( 3900) w, hile the highest- priced electric example was a 1952 Gorton plate ( works No. 1064) from No. 2 6057U lyssesth, e lasto f the EM1 classt o be built (£ 2900).

Other totem signs that deserve a mention include BR( ES) ilvertown and BR( M) L ong Eaton, e acha t £ 3600, and timepieces ticked over nicely, led by a Great Northern Railway guard's watch and a GreatE asternR ailway ex- Brentwood & Warley station 16in dial clock, at £ 3200 and £ 2000 respectively.

An offbeat item that attracted interest and sold for £ 3400 was an official boxed diagram of the London & South Western Railway system comprising 10 books, each of which showed such details as crossingss, ignalboxesp, rivates idings, line elevationsa, nd distancesf rom Waterloo.

GWR cabside numberplates also enjoyed their spot in the limelight, headed by 5086f rom ViscounHt orne that was bought for £ 2900 by the same collector who had acquired the locomotive'sn ameplatet he lot before, and others not far behind were 4084f rom AberystwythC astlea nd 5067 from St. F agansC astle( £ 2700a nd £ 2500).

Signalling

On the signalling front, a GWR cast iron Northolt Jc East Signal Box nameboard went for £ 2500 and a South Eastern Railway ex- Herne Bay Sykes'block indicator for£ 1600, direction signs included Nottingham Midland Station (£ 2200) a, nd top smokeboxn umberplate was 44888 from a'Black Five'that saw servicea t the Prestons hed of Lostock Hall ( 1 OD) until the very end of steam in August 1968

(£ 1600) P. ricese xcludeb uyer'sp remium of15%(+ VAT).

The sale was a first by GW Railwayana's Simon Turner, and indeed for the railwayanam ovement- live bidding on two online platforms accessible by laptop, smartphone or tablet, and commission, t elephone, o r postal bidding. A clearly relieved Simon said immediatelyp ost sale:" Ia m overt he moon, and delighted by the number of people bidding and the prices achieved'.'

Whether the new- style auction may herald the end of the old- style live sales, such as those held by Simon in Pershore High School, remains to be seen, but the possibility is clearlythere." Our next main auction, on November 14, will be identical to the one just gone, and we will look at it after then;' he said." However, are our traditional auctions under threat? have to say there's a fair chance'.'