Long Rock open day

9/11 World Trade Centre terrorist attack hero and brave lifeboat crew honoured with train naming at Long Rock open day.

GREAT Western Railway opened the doors to its Long Rock depot on April 13.

A charity open day at the Penzance facility featured two train namings, as well as the unveiling of a locomotive in the Cornish flag. The event raised money for the Penlee Lifeboat station and the RNLI.

GWR named 802008 Rick Rescorla/Penlee Lifeboat - Solomon Browne. Rescorla was from Hayle, and was security chief for Morgan Stanley at the World Trade Centre (New York). He is credited with saving the lives of some 2,500 people as he evacuated them from the South Tower during the terrorist attacks on September 11 2001. He died during the attacks.

Penlee Lifeboat - Solomon Browne went down with all hands on December 19 1981, as it went to aid the MV Union Star. All eight crew of the lifeboat, as well as eight passengers and crew of the latter, were lost.

Also named was depot shunter 08645, which was christened St Piran after the county’s patron saint. Supposedly of Irish origin, St Piran was a 5th century abbot and is the patron saint of tin-miners. The ‘08’ was also unveiled carrying the Cornish flag, having been repainted from the departmental grey it carried before its transfer from the now-closed GWR depot at Landore (Swansea).

Visitors were able to see behind the scenes of the depot, which was transformed in a multimillion-pound project last year - including the opportunity to see a GWR Class 57/6 undergoing maintenance. Night Riviera Sleeper

stock was also available to board and view.

There was also the opportunity to visit the cab of GWR 43042, one of four High Speed Train power cars on display.

Modern traction displayed at the

event was 08410, 08645 St Piran, 43002 Sir Kenneth Grange, 43042, 43162 Exeter Panel Signalbox 21st Anniversary 2009, 43185 Great Western, 47306 The Sapper, 50007 Hercules, 50042 Triumph, 50049 Defiance, 57602 Restormel Castle,

57604 Pendennis Castle, 57605 Totnes Castle, 66714 Cromer Lifeboat, 73107 Tracy, 802008 Rick Rescorla/Penlee Lifeboat - Solomon Browne.

BOSKETT/GWR. JACK BOSKETT/GWR. JACK Left: One driving vehicle of 802008 was christened Penlee Lifeboat - Solomon Browne, with the names of the vessel’s last crew members also carried by the Class 802. Above: The other driving vehicle of 802008 was christened Rick Rescorla. The Class 802 has also been adorned with the Kernow bys vyken, which is the Cornish for Cornwall Forever.

JACK BOSKETT/GWR. Crowds mingle among the visiting traction at Long Rock depot on April 13, with (left to right) 50007 Hercules, 43185 Great Western, 50042 Triumph and 47306 The Sapper all visible.

DARREN FORD. 1. Great Western Railway staff repainted 08645 into the colours of the Cornish flag, ahead of its naming St Piran. The ‘08’ stands at Long Rock depot on April 13. 1

DARREN FORD. 2. April 13 at Penzance was the first time a dual-mode Direct Rail Services Class 88 had visited the West Country, when 88003 Genesis arrived on Pathfinder Tours’ ‘The Springtime Cornishman’, which it hauled with DRS 68034 from Tame Bridge Parkway. The ‘88’ arrives at Penzance, leading the ‘68’. 2