NAME THE ‘DUKE’
Steam Railway and the BR Class 8 Steam Locomotive Trust are offering you the chance to rename No. 71000 as it might have been in 1954 – and win the nameplate carrying your choice.
Your chance to rename No. 71000
As well as the sight and sound, it’s the histories of our beloved steam locomotives that draw us to them. Oliver Cromwell’s starring role on BR’s last steam-hauled train. The speed exploits of City of Truro, Mallard and many ‘Merchant Navies’. Even the most humble mixed traffic or freight engine will have a story to tell that could enthuse somebody.
Yet Duke of Gloucester is an odd man out. With this engine, the inspiration comes not so much from what it actually did, but more from what it might have done.
This ‘Pacific’ should have been one of the elite; the zenith of British express steam locomotive design. It might have been the pioneer of an innovative class that could have ensured steam went out with a bang – working on into the 1970s before handing over to a well-planned new generation of electric motive power.
But with fundamental flaws in its design and construction, it would only be able to fulfil its true potential in preservation, thanks to its miraculous survival at Barry scrapyard. Those who saved and restored it were inspired to embark on what became known as ‘The Impossible Dream’ by the vision of turning the ‘8P’ into the engine that its designer Robert Riddles had really intended it to be.
However, it might never have been built at all. It could also have looked completely different, and emerged with a very different name.
Now, 65 years after No. 71000 was built, the BR Class 8 Steam Locomotive Trust and Steam Railway are offering you the chance to write another new chapter in the locomotive’s history.
‘MOUNTAIN’ CLASS?
When the first ideas for a range of BR Standard locomotives were being drawn up immediately after nationalisation in 1948, the top-link express passenger ‘Pacific’ – then designated ‘Type 75’ – showed an interesting blend of LMS and American thinking, being closely based on the Stanier ‘Duchess’ with four cylinders, but also having the unusual (for Britain) feature of bar frames.
With plenty of Class 8 motive power already available, the proposal lay dormant until 1952, when LMS ‘Pacific’ No. 46202 Princess Anne was written off in the Harrow disaster. To fill the resulting gap in the London Midland Region’s fleet, Riddles seized the opportunity to build his experimental ‘Pacific’, intended as the prototype for a new class that would take over the mantle of express passenger haulage until electrification could take place.
The next abortive plan to appear on the drawing boards was a strikingly modern-looking design with three cylinders; a boiler based on that of the Bulleid ‘Merchant Navy’; what can only be described as a stovepipe double chimney and, strangest of all, German-type smoke deflectors, six years before King’s Cross shedmaster Peter Townend had them fitted to his ‘A3s’.
What was eventually built was the three-cylinder, Caprotti-geared ‘big Britannia’ that we know so well today, but the process of giving the new engine an identity was as convoluted as its design.
The original plan was to name it ‘Prince Charles’ – but Royal permission for this was not forthcoming. During late 1953, as No. 71000 was being built, BR’s Locomotive Naming Committee
also considered ‘Sir Winston Churchill’, but decided against it as this would have duplicated the identity of Bulleid ‘Battle of Britain’ No. 34051. Next on the list were ‘Duke of Edinburgh’, and then the inspiring suggestion of ‘Everest’, conquered by Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay earlier that year – which would certainly have been an appropriately impressive name.
Duke of Gloucester was ultimately chosen to commemorate the Duke’s Honorary Presidency of the sixteenth International Railway Congress, held at Willesden with the ‘Pacific’ and other brandnew BR Standards on show.
‘Duke of Edinburgh’ might well have appeared if further examples had been built, however, as they would have been designated the ‘Duke’ class.
Trevor Tuckley, chairman of the BR Class 8 Steam Locomotive Trust, makes a tantalising suggestion for the locomotive to once again show what might have been during its next stint of service.
“The first ‘Princess Coronation’ to carry a ‘Duchess’ name was also ‘Gloucester’, No. 46225,” he says, “so how about running it as a different engine for a month each year, and go through the equivalent ‘Duke’ names in the same sequence – 71001 ‘Duke of Norfolk’, 71002 ‘Duke of Devonshire’, and so on?”
However, you have the chance to take it even further – and perhaps choose an entirely different naming theme for this mighthave-been series of ‘8Ps’.
IDENTITY PARADE
Steam Railway readers have twice rewritten BR Standard history in light-hearted fashion. In 1993, a competition was held to decide on a name for the unnamed ‘Britannia’, No. 70047 – with preserved No. 70000 carrying the winning entry of ‘James Watt’ (SR160 and SR164). Twenty years later, we asked what might have happened if the last ‘9F’ had been Crewe’s No. 92250 rather than Swindon’s No. 92220 – the result being the temporary naming of newly restored No. 92214 as ‘Samarkand’ (SR291 and SR295).
Now you can do the same for the ‘Duke’ – and help the engine return to the main line in the process.
As reported last issue, the trust needs to raise a further £104,467 if No. 71000’s current overhaul at Tyseley is to be completed next year as planned, following the discovery that the engine’s roller bearings need to be replaced.
To do this, the ‘8P’ needs to raise its profile – so we’ve come up with another competition to
give the ‘Duke’ a new name.
Entries can be sent to Steam Railway via the form below by May 24, and will be judged by a member of the trust, the Steam Railway editorial team and an independent expert. A shortlist of names will be drawn up and members of the trust will then vote to decide which of the suggestions wins (see below).
The competition winner will be announced by September 17, with the resulting nameplate to be (hopefully) displayed for the first time at Tyseley’s 2019 open weekend on September 28/29.
The aim is for the ‘Duke’ to return to steam at the September 2020 Tyseley open weekend, after which the locomotive will be temporarily renamed for a period of one month during its first year of main line use, and will thus carry its new identity on at least one railtour. The winner will receive a ticket to travel on the train and will be presented with one of the nameplates.
As with the 70047 and 92250 competitions, entries will be judged on their authentic feel – and the shortlist will comprise what we think could have been a likely contender in 1954, taking into account the naming policies of BR at the time – so please include a covering letter outlining your reasons for your choice. But given Trevor’s idea for a parallel sequence of identity changes, they don’t have to be ‘Duke’ names – so let your imagination roll! ●● If you would like to become a member and support the project, visit www.theduke.uk.com or write to: The Duke, Aurora House, Deltic Avenue, Rooksley, Milton Keynes MK13 8LW. The trust has agreed that joining as a member and making a contribution to the bearing appeal will enable you to take part in the vote.