Jubilee’s sprint finish outpaces Lord Nelson to the top spot in GNRA sale

LMS Jubilee nameplate Nigeria produced a sprint finish to take first place in Great Northern's two-week email and telephone auction that ended on April 13, its run to the tape seeing it outpace Sir Richard Grenville representing the Southern Railway.

The winner, from No. 45619, had been neck-and-neck with the SR Lord Nelson class plate from No. 30853 for much of the auction, but it eventually took the gold medal with a realisation of £7100, leaving Sir Richard the runner-up at £6000, a bid that had been placed in the early stages of the sale. Two other LMS contenders, Lord Rutherford of Nelson (Jubilee No. 45665) and The Loyal Regiment (Royal Scot No. 46158), failed to sell.

Inevitably it was the totem signs that then took up the running, with their charge being led by BR(M) Pear Tree & Normanton (£2900), a delightfullynamed station that was opened by the Birmingham & Derby Junction Railway in 1839 and renamed simply Peartree in 1976. It is one of three stations in the city of Derby still open today, albeit unstaffed and with no ticket facilities, and was used in the latest annual passenger figures by just 3892 souls, or just over 10 a day.

Another BR(M) totem sign, Knutsford, was behind at £2700, while a Midland Region top three clean sweep was achieved by another idiosyncratically named station, Oldham Mumps (£2100). Top SR target sign was Bagshot (£1300).

Electric traction won the day in the worksplate selection, when a Gorton 1952 (works No. 1055) plate from Class EM1/76 Bo-Bo No. 26048/76048 Hector went for £2900, and the highest realisation among the handlamps was £2000 for a Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway ex-Dunford Bridge example.

From across the Channel, an eagle emblem used on Germany's coaching stock and some loco tenders during the 1930s went for £1600, and back home, a Great Central Railway signalbox nameboard Hyde Jc sold for £1250 and a similar Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway item from Copy Pit signalbox for £1000.

Two smokebox numberplates came close to breaching the £1k barrier, when 49557 from an LMS Class 7F 0-8-0 realised £950, followed by 92223 from a Standard Class 9F 2-10-0 No. 92223 which found a new home for £900. Prices exclude buyer's premium of 10%.

Great Northern's Dave Robinson said: “It went extremely well – we had some nice items, something for everybody. Totems seem to be appealing to all generations, including collectors of a certain age who may have been in the hobby for some time.”

As with everybody within the movement, be they collectors or auction houses, Dave's thoughts turned to what may happen once all Covid-19 restrictions are lifted. “We will definitely go back to live audience auctions when we can, but I don't think it will be this year,” he mused.

Appropriately for railway enthusiasts, there does appear to be light at the end of the tunnel.