Will Queen storm the Castle, or innovator rule with an iron fist?

GREAT Central’s fifth 200-lot monthly auction on June 12 is set to be a three-way battle for top honours, as the LNWR, GWR and LMS meet in a nameplate head-to-head. Respectively and chronologically, they are Henry Cort, Donnington Castle, and Queen Maud.

The LNWR plate, which was held over from last month’s sale, is from Experiment class No. 1413, built at Crewe in April 1909 and withdrawn in 1925 before having its LMS No. 5515 applied. It was named after an 18th century cast-iron production innovator who was lauded ‘the father of the iron trade.’

The Castle nameplate comes from No. 4089, built at Swindon in July 1925 and withdrawn from Reading (81D) in September 1964 after a main-line career of nearly 40 years. When in Swindon Works for a heavy general in August 1961 it had 1,838,264 miles on the clock, indicating a total mileage of about two million when it was taken out of service three years later.

Queen Maud was carried by Crewebuilt Princess Royal No. 46211, which entered traffic a decade after the Castle, in September 1935, but ended its days three years earlier, in October 1961. Its final shed was Crewe North (5A), where it had been allocated on six different occasions and where, in the nearby works, it was cut up in April 1962. Maud of Wales, after whom the Pacific was named, was the youngest daughter of King Edward VII and Queen of Norway as the wife of King Haakon VII. She died in London in November 1938 at the age of 68.

A number of silver passes will also be going under the hammer, including a fully-titled LSWR & Steam

Packets’ example issued to one of the company’s directors, EA Scanes, and another issued by the London & Greenwich Railway to Lt-Col George Landmann, its engineer, that depicted a train on a viaduct, the railway being the world’s first all-elevated line when it opened in February 1836.

An LBSCR pass issued to Jonas Levy, the railway’s deputy chairman from 1869 until his death in 1894, will also be going under the hammer. Levy was a wealthy newspaper proprietor and barrister who lived a lavish lifestyle at his Kingsgate Castle home, a Grade II-listed building near Broadstairs that was built in 1760.

Single-line tokens include Glenoglehead-Killin Jcn on the Callander-Oban line making its auction debut, and Oxley Branch JcWombourn on the GWR Stourbridge Junction to Oxley route that was opened as late as 1925 and operated passenger trains for only seven years, although freight survived until 1965. Starting at at 10am, the auction will be live online, and bids will also be accepted by email, telephone, or commission.