Do not forget the contribution of passed fireman Albert Shaw

I HAVE just received Issue 265 which is up to the usual standard, so well done.

I was pleased to see the article by Peter Kelly on No. 6201, drawing attention to Hornby’s latest iteration of the manufacturer’s long-term affair with models of No. 6201 Princess Elizabeth which is indeed a splendid effort.

It is also good that Peter has highlighted the sad fact that the 1936 achievement of the LMS, the engine, and its crew appears to keep getting overlooked by popular writing. However, Peter in turn has fallen for the oftrepeated omission in naming the crew, as he has completely edited out the presence of passed fireman Albert (Ab) Shaw.

The crew consisted of three men, and Shaw’s rank as a passed fireman would have outranked that of Fleet as a fireman at that time, and as such Shaw would have been the booked fireman, with Fleet there to help.

I was told some years ago by Shaw’s son (also Albert) that Shaw senior was also doing some spells of driving to relieve Tom Clark, so his was a presence which was every bit as important as that of Clark and Fleet, and it would be good if the many authorities who get trotted out periodically to pronounce on this great run would endeavour to correctly identify the facts before Ab Shaw is permanently written out of the history of this outstanding event.

There are more than enough photographs of the three men in the cab of No. 6201 on its return to Euston to corroborate the fact of Shaw’s presence. All three of the crew and the guard were presented with clocks by the LMS to mark their achievement, and I was privileged some years ago to actually handle the clock which was presented to Albert, which is suitably inscribed with his name. Bob Meanley, former chief mechanical

engineer, Tyseley Locomotive Works