‘Impostor’ engine is getting back on track
A piece of jiggery-pokery over the train carrying Sunderland’s 1937 FA Cup winning team has finally come to light.
The locomotive pulling the trainfromWearsidetoLondon carried “Sunderland” nameplatesoverthemiddletwoofits six, six-feet eight-inch wheels. The team, captained by Raich Carter,beatPrestonNorthEnd 3-1 to lift the trophy.
But the steam engine in question was an impostor.
A brand new green B17 Class engine, built at Darlington a year earlier, was given the number 2854 and “Sunderland” plate then officially launched before dignitaries outside Roker Park.
Top brass from the London and North Eastern Railway promised Sunderland manager Johnny Cochrane that if his side reached the following year’s FA Cup final, they could use the locomotive to travel to Wembley.
In 1936, Sunderland became champions of England for the sixth time, a thenrecord, but had never won the cup in their history and reached only one final. So perhaps LNER were misguidedly confident.
But in April 1937, SAFC beat Millwall in the semi-final and were off to Wembley for the firsttime,althoughnotbehind the locomotive they thought. Embarrassed LNER bosses realised Number 2854 was unavailable on cup final day and were forced to carry out a deception.
Asisterlocomotivewasgiven a frantic clean-up, its original number plate 2851 was switchedto2854andthename “Derby County” replaced with “Sunderland”.
It’s unlikely that anyone at the football club ever found out. However, it seems even less likely that having finally won the cup that they would have cared either. They might have happily walked home if necessary.
After swapping the names back, the genuine “Sunderland” locomotive pulled 90mph passenger trains betweenLondonLiverpoolStreet and East Anglia.
It was withdrawn in 1958 and sadly scrapped. By 1960, all 72 of its sister B17 engines, many bearing the names of football clubs, had met the same fate.
But now there is a £3.4million plan to build a replica, whichcouldhaulspecialheritagetrainsonBritain’smainline before the end of the decade.
The B17 Steam Locomotive Trustisworkingfromtheoriginal designs. The mainframe is already taking shape.
The new locomotive will be named Spirit of Sandringham. But replica nameplates bearing famous football club names like Sunderland, could also be recreated and sold to raise funds.
It’s possible that if Sunderland reach the FA Cup final after 2029, a B17 locomotive bearing the club’s name could
pull the train to Wembley again.
JohnPeat,ofthetrust,said: “The B17 class is the missing preservation link in the evolution of the London North Eastern Railway design of 4-6-0 locomotives.
“We would love to hear experiences of former railwaymen who were involved in any way with these locos. It is importanttogleanasmuchinformation as possible before the knowledge disappears.”
Formoredetails,visitwww. b17steamloco.co.uk or email b17enquiries@gmail.com
* Our thanks to Mal Tattersall.