1920s main line contenders set for head-to-head at Great Central sale

MAIN line steam nameplates from two of the Big Four will take centre stage in Great Central’s 200-lot auction on February 5, comprising Sir Meliagrance and Oxfordshire. The former is from SR King Arthur 4-6-0 No. 30452, built at Eastleigh in July 1925 and withdrawn from Salisbury (72B) in August 1959, and the latter from LNER D49 class 4-4-0 No. 62702, a November 1927 Darlington product that ended its days in November 1958 when a resident of Leeds Neville Hill (50B).

Another named locomotive to feature will be GWR No. 5098 Clifford Castle, whose smokebox numberplate will be going under the hammer, while totem station signs include BR(M) Leire

Halt, making only its second auction appearance, and BR(W) Dovey Junction.

There is also an LMS hawkeye from Doe Hill, a Derbyshire station opened by the Midland Railway in 1862 and closed by BR exactly 100 years later, and from Llangadog station comes a GWR enamel lamp tablet. This station, near Llandeilo in west Wales, was opened by the Vale of Towy Railway in April 1858 and is still open, although its latest annual passenger usage was just 154 souls, compared with in excess of 5000 per year pre-Covid. The sale is the 11th in GCRA’s series of monthly 200-lot live online auctions and starts at 10am.