Huge railwayana find surfaces after five decades below the radar
A LARGE previously- unknown collection of mainly GWR railwayana, which has avoided the detection of the usually finely- tuned railwayana collectors’ radar for more than five decades, has been unearthed in a modest semi- detached house in Somerset.
Its contents have yet to be finalised by GW Railwayana, which will be selling the collection in a series of sales this year, but the auction house’s Simon Turner has revealed that in addition to six locomotive nameplates, there are approximately 100 cabside numberplates, 30 station totem signs, 20 signalbox nameboards, 10 smokebox numberplates and 50 watches, as well as signalling instruments, lamps, doorplates, and cast- iron signs.
The first part of the collection will be sold by Simon on March 13, and will include four of the six nameplates – Knowsley Hall from No. 5905, Bampton Grange from No. 6802, Barcote Manor ( No. 7803), and a sole LMS representative, Leander, from preserved Jubilee No. 45690.
A cabside numberplate from
No. 6802 will also be in the auction, as will 4040 from Star class 4- 6- 0 Queen Boadicea and 5921 from
Bingley Hall. This category will include examples from 16 other locomotives, mainly 0- 6- 0PTs, and among the nine smokebox numberplates going under the hammer are 4097 from Kenilworth Castle and 6008 from King James II.
Hoard
Eighteen Western Region station totem signs will feature, one being Westonsuper- Mare General, a name used for only 15 years, from 1953- 68, and there is also a Bristol Temple Meads roundel totem, a type of sign used by the Western Region only there and at Birmingham Snow Hill.
Simon was first alerted to the hoard when he received a telephone call from the daughter of the collector, who died in 2019. “I went to the house where everything was stored. It was the former family home, but unoccupied, and I didn’t know what to expect.
“There were cabsides and other railwayana actually in the house, but the daughter told me she thought there was also stuff in the garage. I couldn’t gain access, however, as everywhere was overgrown and the garage doors were blocked by a small tree. I went back a couple of weeks later with a chainsaw to cut down the tree, and opening the doors was a bit like Howard Carter and Tutankhamen’s tomb.
“Initially I thought I was wasting my time as we were confronted with a lot of old furniture and jumble, but once we had removed all that the finds started happening, and they carried on to the back of the garage.
“I gradually realised that what I was uncovering from under old sacks and the like were nameplates, cabsides, signalbox boards, smokebox numberplates and totems. I had never seen anything like it in 26 years of running auctions – it was a hoard that had been locked away since the 1960s and wasn’t on anyone’s radar.”
Discovery