London auction house kicks off 2021 season with Great Western theme

A DISTINCT western air will filter through the Transport Auctions of London sale on January 30, for among the lots are a cabside numberplate from an ex- GWR saddle tank, pre- Grouping enamel signs from two south Wales railways, cast- iron signs from GWR joint lines with the LNWR and GCR, a selection of Victorian GWR timetables, and a GWR clock.

The cabside is from No. 1144, a Hawthorn Leslie 0- 4- 0ST that started life in July 1909 as Swansea Harbour Trust No. 13, became No. 974 when acquired by the GWR in the 1923 Grouping, was renumbered 1144 by BR in September 1948, and ended its days at Swansea East Dock ( 87D) in January 1960. The two enamels are Rhymney Railway fire buckets and Cardiff Railway no smoking signs, while the oldest of the timetables dates from 1877.

Joining the GWR among the timetables and guides are Bradshaw’s from 1840 and 1845 and a first- edition 1933 Harry Beck London Underground diagrammatic pocket map, and linguists might like the look of a BR( S) dual language porters/ porteurs sign.

Still down south, there is a totem sign from the West Sussex station of Bramber on the Adur Valley line, opened by the LBSCR in 1861 and closed in 1966, and an SR target sign from another former LBSCR station, Plumpton in East Sussex, which opened in 1863 but, unlike Bramber, is still open today.

Also going under the hammer is a collection of Southern Railway/ BR( S) late 1940s/ early 1950s steam negatives, a selection of albums containing rail and other transport photographs and postcards from the late- Victorian period onwards, and London Underground platform signs and cab destination plates. The live online, email, telephone and commission auction starts at 10am.