RIDDLE SOLVED
Revealed: Duke of Gloucester will become ‘Robert Riddles’.
‘Duke’ to be named after BR CME
It has always seemed a great pity that Robert Riddles – the last great steam engineer in the history of Britain’s railways – has never had his name bestowed on a steam locomotive.
But now that is about to change – thanks to you, the readers of Steam Railway, and the BR Class 8 Steam Locomotive Trust, custodians of No. 71000 Duke of Gloucester.
Members of the trust have now voted on the shortlist of four possible names from the many entries put forward in our competition (SR492/495) and ‘Robert Riddles’ is the winner – though it was quite a close call. The vote was split almost evenly between Riddles and the other three contenders, which is perhaps a measure of just how authentic and appropriate they seemed to be: Richard Trevithick, the Cornish engineer who built the very first steam railway locomotive; Edmund Hillary, who, in the year before the ‘Duke’s’ construction, became the first man to reach the summit of Everest; and Roger Bannister, who in the same month that No. 71000 emerged from Crewe Works, became the first man to run a mile in under four minutes.
The results of the vote were:
Robert Riddles: 31% Richard Trevithick: 26% Roger Bannister: 22% Edmund Hillary: 21%
It is somehow appropriate, and perhaps no surprise, that Richard Trevithick – the man standing at the opposite end of the steam locomotive timeline from Riddles – should have been the second runner-up.
However, as one reader, Anthony Tucker, has pointed out, we overlooked the fact that Trevithick’s name may not strictly have fitted our criteria in any case – namely, to find a name that could have been a likely contender when the ‘Duke’ was built in 1954, taking into account BR’s naming policies of the time.
One of those policies was not to duplicate names already in use, and one of those originally put forward for No. 71000, ‘Sir Winston Churchill’, was rejected because ‘Battle of Britain’ No. 34051 already carried it.
Similarly, the name originally proposed for prototype Standard ‘Pacific’, No. 70000, was ‘Great Britain’ – but Riddles selected Britannia instead, as a tribute to the LNWR with which he had started his career as an apprentice in 1909, the ‘Premier Line’s’ crest containing an image of Britannia and the British Lion. However, the name was already carried by LMS ‘Jubilee’ No. 45700 – and so, in order for No. 70000 to take this identity, the Stanier 4-6-0 had to be renamed Amethyst, after the Royal Navy frigate that had been involved in the ‘Yangtse Incident’ of 1949 when it was fired on by Chinese Communist forces.
SOUTHERN OVERLAP
Considering all this, said Anthony: “So should ‘Trevithick’ be rejected as it would have duplicated Maunsell’s rebuild of Billinton’s ‘Baltic’ tank, then running as 32327 and performing useful duties on the Basingstoke semi-fasts for another year!”
Nor was the ‘Remembrance’ 4-6-0 the only engine to carry Trevithick’s surname only; it was also applied to LBSCR ‘B2’ 4-4-0 No. 202, LNWR ‘DX’ 0-6-0 No. 428, a GWR broad gauge ‘Victoria’ 2-4-0 and, ironically enough, another ‘Duke’ class – GWR 4-4-0 No. 3264.
As worthy a name as Trevithick’s is, therefore, it’s fair to conclude that he has already been well honoured by the steam locomotive that he created – which is more than you can say for Riddles.
Riddles devoted his life to steam, both in engineering and design, and on the shop floor as well. Unafraid to get his hands dirty, when Princess Elizabeth failed at Glasgow during the layover of its record-breaking run from Euston in November 1936, he stayed up all night at St Rollox overseeing repairs; and on at least two occasions, he even took to the footplate. During the General Strike of 1926, he volunteered to drive trains on the West Coast Main Line; and during the ‘Coronation Scot’ tour of the USA in 1939, he stepped into the breach when the rostered driver fell ill.
Such practical experience stood him in good stead for designing what proved to be the last breed of steam in Britain, including the technically advanced ‘Duke’.
It is thus something of an injustice that while other famous CMEs have had locomotives named after them, Riddles has never been so honoured with a steam locomotive. The unique ‘8P’ will be an appropriate engine to right that wrong.