‘DUKE’: NEW NAME SHORTLIST
Readers have submitted their proposals – serious and otherwise – for No. 71000. Find out which four have made the shortlist…
Your ideas for ‘8P’s’ new identity
First there was No. 70047 ‘James Watt’. Then there was No. 92250 ‘Samarkand’. Now, could it be No. 71000 ‘Richard Trevithick’ or ‘Roger Bannister’?
Steam Railway readers have twice come up with alternative but evocative names for BR Standard locomotives, with the competitions to name the nameless ‘Britannia’ in 1993 and Crewe’s last ‘9F’ in 2003. In the same spirit, there was an excellent response to the challenge set in SR492 – to find another name that could have been bestowed upon Duke of Gloucester when it was built in 1954.
We received more than 100 entries, ranging from the authentic and historical to the far-fetched, and now it’s time to announce the shortlist from which the winner will be chosen – as well as giving recognition to the other suggestions that were strong contenders.
PEAKS OF ACHIEVEMENT
As in the 70047 and 92250 competitions, our criteria for the ‘Duke’s’ alter ego was to find a name that could have been a likely choice in 1954, taking into account BR’s naming policies at the time. This might sound restrictive, but it actually offered boundless possibilities; to give some idea of how wide a horizon it allowed, the other names suggested for No. 71000 as it was being built in late 1953 were ‘Prince Charles’, ‘Duke of Edinburgh’, ‘Sir Winston Churchill’ (rejected because it would have duplicated Bulleid ‘Pacific’ No. 34051) and, finally, ‘Everest’.
The last would have been a very topical name at the time, for the world’s highest mountain had been conquered by a British expedition on May 29 1953 – and one of the entries that therefore made our shortlist was ‘Edmund Hillary’, the New Zealand mountaineer who, along with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, was the first to reach the summit.
David Monk, one of two readers who made this suggestion, said: “Although not British, he was an icon of the time. Conquering Everest was no mean achievement and his name would have sat well with the launch of what should have been, at that time, a remarkable locomotive.”
To allocate Hillary’s name to the ‘Duke’ later in 2019 would be a (slightly belated) way to mark the centenary of his birth on July 20 1919 – but it would sit well on the BR Standard ‘Pacific’ in another, less obvious regard.
When a committee was set up to consider names for the ‘Britannias’, George Dow – father of Andrew Dow, who went on to become head of the National Railway Museum – suggested ‘Sir Edmund Hillary’, along with such others as ‘Pegasus’, ‘Stanley Matthews’, characters from Shakespeare and Dickens, British women, authors and statesmen.
The inclusion of footballer Stanley Matthews means that the second name on our shortlist, which was suggested by seven readers, also has the ring of authenticity to it – ‘Roger Bannister’.
Bannister, who died last year at the age of 88, was the first athlete to run a mile in under four minutes, on May 6 1954 – the same month that No. 71000 emerged from Crewe Works.
Said Quentin Scott: “Both 71000 and Bannister were groundbreakers, although the potential of the former was only realised many years later. This name also fits in loosely with the theme of famous Brits as applied to the ‘Britannia’ class. A sporting theme would not have been new (considering the ‘B17s’ and ‘A3s’ for instance). How about ‘W.G. Grace’, ‘Matthew Webb’, ‘Fred Perry’…?”
DESIGNER LABELS
The other two entries on our shortlist would perpetuate a common and fitting theme in locomotive naming – great steam engineers. Our choices cover the beginning and end of steam locomotion in this country, with ‘Richard Trevithick’ and ‘Robert Riddles’.
1954 was the 150th anniversary of the world’s very first steam railway locomotive – Trevithick’s ‘Pen-y-darren’ engine, which ran for the first time on the Merthyr Tramroad in February 1804. This primitive machine was the ancestor of every other engine that followed, while No. 71000 can stake a strong claim to representing the ultimate development of the steam locomotive – so what better
name than that of the man who, in the words of Perry Skinner, “was the father of highpressure steam and of what we have today”?
A locomotive built in 1954 did carry Trevithick’s name – Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST Works No. 2354, now preserved at the Swindon & Cricklade Railway – while the other locomotives that previously did so were Webb ‘Greater Britain’ 2-2-22 No. 772 and Whale ‘Precursor’ 4-4-0 No. 1650. With the name having already adorned two LNWR engines, it would surely have been seen as a fitting identity for the Crewe-built No. 71000 in 1954.
We would like to think that Riddles – himself an ex-LNWR man – would have approved wholeheartedly. What would he have said, however, had he known that his own name was a rival contender to Trevithick’s in our competition…?
Ironically, unlike Trevithick, Riddles has never had a steam locomotive named after him (only a BR Class 86 electric!) and although he had retired from BR the year before the ‘Duke’ was outshopped, the naming of this magnum opus after its designer would have been no less fitting than that of ‘Princess Coronation’ No. 6256 Sir William A. Stanier F.R.S. some years after the latter had left the LMS. Furthermore, the names of three engineers from constituent companies of the LMS had been prepared for ‘Britannias’ – patterns being produced for the nameplates ‘Sir John Aspinall’, ‘Samuel Johnson’ and ‘John Ramsbottom’.
Said Matt Scrutton: “Riddles was not only responsible for giving us 71000 in the first place, but had faith in steam traction’s future and undoubtedly (if unwittingly) gave the preservation movement some of its most enduring and useful motive power.
“Not forgetting his valuable work with the War Department ‘Austerity’ designs, which gave excellent service overseas and at home, despite their ‘economical’ construction – testament to Riddles’ engineering ability and insight into what made a great steam locomotive.”
THE RUNNERS-UP
Members of the BR Class 8 Steam Locomotive Trust will now vote on these four contenders, with the winning name to be announced in
issue 496. Until then, it remains only to consider a pick of the remaining names that didn’t make the final selection.
One that nearly appeared on the shortlist was Clement Attlee, suggested by Jim Brown, who explained: “This seems entirely appropriate as 71000 was being designed in the early days of British Railways, which was established by the Attlee government. Attlee was Deputy Prime Minister and acknowledged to have done much of the ‘heavy lifting’ during the Second World War, becoming Prime Minister in July 1945.”
It certainly seemed like a topical name for the very early 1950s, but by the time the ‘Duke’ was built, the return of a Conservative government in 1951 would probably have ruled it out. As the judging panel decided: “Naming an engine after the leader of the opposition would surely have been far too political for 1954.”
We also considered ‘Earl Mountbatten’, and there several other entries following a military theme, such as ‘Viscount Montgomery’, ‘Guy Gibson VC’, and another that continues the ‘Duke’ theme, ‘Duke of Wellington’.
Ian Joyce put forward ‘Victory’ as the first of a class named after great ships to celebrate Britain’s maritime history; while Sean McKerchar suggested ‘Vanguard’, partly in a reference to the ‘Duke’s’ advanced design but also after HMS Vanguard, the Royal Navy’s last battleship. “Certainly a ‘Warship’ class would have been popular in post-war Britain…”
In that same optimistic spirit, several readers suggested patriotic names such as ‘Great Britain’ (which was indeed the original identity proposed for ‘Britannia’ No. 70000), ‘United Kingdom’ and, in tribute to the Coronation of 1953, ‘Queen Elizabeth’ and ‘Royal Sovereign’.
John Denman delved much further back into history for his idea of ‘AEthelstan’, the first king of the English who reigned from 924 to 939, defeating Viking raids and uniting the former Anglo-Saxon kingdoms into England. “BR named ‘Britannia’ No. 70009 Alfred the Great in honour of AEthelstan’s grandfather, and No. 70037 was named Hereward the Wake to commemorate an Anglo-Saxon who led resistance in the Fens against the Normans after 1066. It would have been consistent with this naming policy had No. 71000 been named ‘AEthelstan’.”
In similar vein to the ‘Duke’s’ proposed name of ‘Everest’,
‘Ben Nevis’, Britain’s highest mountain, was put forward “to follow on from the ‘Britannias’ named after Firths, and the ‘Clans’.” Considering George Dow’s recommendations of naming some ‘Britannias’ after British women, authors or Shakespeare and Dickens characters, two other suggestions that stood out were ‘Florence Nightingale’, and ‘Laurence Olivier’, the latter perhaps starting a class named after great actors. While Riddles takes the ultimate credit for the ‘Duke’, others who played a part in its gestation were recognised too: ‘Arturo Caprotti’, the designer of its valve gear, and ‘Tom F. Coleman’, the former LMS chief draughtsman who had a hand in designing the ‘Britannia’ boilers.
Some of the more unusual choices included ‘Gandalf’
(The Lord of the Rings having been published in 1954) and
‘Ayo Gorkhali’, meaning ‘The Gurkhas are upon you’ and commemorating the service of Nepali soldiers in the British Army.
FLouTInG The ruLes…
Many readers suggested that ‘Dai Woodham’ would make for a fitting tribute to the scrap dealer who ensured the survival of No. 71000 and many other engines besides, and we agree – but the rules of the competition, to find a name that could have been chosen in 1954, meant that this and the names of preservationists such as Bluebell Railway founding father ‘Bernard Holden’ were ruled out.
It was inevitable that someone would throw the tongue-in-cheek (we hope) ‘Steamie McSteamface’ into the ring, but as for Peter Odell’s ‘Brexit Remorse’, probably the less said the better…