Named Tank Engines

[gwrrob]

Enjoyed a brief visit to Paignton station and caught 4277 on the run round.Interesting that all the stock on this line carries names of some sort.Not sure I approve of tank engines with names on but like the coaches with various names it will encourage children.The driver I spoke to says the faces of small children when they see a coach with their name is a picture.The station at Paignton is due to have a refit including an extensive canopy during the winter.

[Dan Griffin]

theres a tank loco on the nene valley named, thomas i think and its blue..............

[AMJ]

The loco currently in my profile is "Matthew Murray" an industrial Manning-Wardle L class 0-6-0ST

 

You will find that there are quite a few industrial tank locos that carry names. If you class all of the Quarry Hunslets as industrial then there are a few themes amongst them. One batch are named after the race horses owned by the quarry owner, others are named after family members.

 

All of the Vale of Rheidol tanks were named and there are many others such as the A1/A1X Terriers all carried painted on names.

 

I'm not in favour of if a loco didn't carry a name to name it but sometimes they can look right such as the LNER K1.

[DavidB-AU]

Lots of the WD and NCB Hunslet Austerities carried names.

 

Three of the LB&SCR L class were named.

 

Cheers

David

[Coombe Barton]

There was also Fair Rosamund, a 517 class tank that ran on the Woodstock branch named after the mistress of Henry II, allegedly poisoned by Henry's Wife, Eleanor, after she found out

.

Model pic at http://www.justliketherealthing.co.uk/Gallery1/Gallery/fullimages/fairrosamund1_f.jpg

[gwrrob]

There was also Fair Rosamund, a 517 class tank that ran on the Woodstock branch named after the mistress of Henry II, allegedly poisoned by Henry's Wife, Eleanor, after she found out

.

Model pic at http://www.justliketherealthing.co.uk/Gallery1/Gallery/fullimages/fairrosamund1_f.jpg

 

Thats a lovely model is'nt it John.I know theres examples but the tanks on the PDSR are normal 45xx/42xxs.

[Dan Hamblin]

The E4 0-6-2 tank on the Bluebell Railway was named Birch Grove under its original owners (the LB&SCR).

 

Regards,

 

Dan

[Adam]

The E4 0-6-2 tank on the Bluebell Railway was named Birch Grove under its original owners (the LB&SCR).

 

Regards,

 

Dan

 

LB&SCR examples are legion since for a period they named almost everything: relatively unusual for a 'major' railway but common practise, as noted above, on many minor and industrial railways. The P&D is unashamedly a tourist operation which happens to run steam trains - a very efficient operation at that - and the names, I suppose are there to imbue some character for visitors. Whether you like it or not is irrelevant from this point of view, but the plates are very much in GWR 'style' which is more or less appropriate even if it isn't 'accurate'.

 

Adam

[Jim Martin]

The Metropolitan Railway gave names to all four of their G class 0-6-4Ts (Class M2 on the LNER). They were named Lord Aberconway (chairman of the Met. Ry.), Robert H. Selbie (General Manager), Charles Jones (locomotive designer) and Brill (after the railway's furthest point from London: as the RCTS history points out, the locomotive would have been barred from ever going there because of its size and weight).

 

Jim

[John B]

The Highland Railway named a lot of their tank engines - often carrying the names of the towns they were introduced to serve. As a trap for the unwary, they also frequently renamed engines as they were reallocated to different routes...

[pH]

LMS Fowler 2-6-4T number 2313 carried the name 'The Prince' from 1928 to 1933 in honour of a visit to Derby Works by the Prince of Wales.

[Worsdell forever]

The NER was not known for naming locos, the pacifics were named but most in LNER days. The most famous NER named loco is a tank, No66 Aerolite. Rebuilt many times and used for pulling the directors saloons.

[Dudley Dodger]

And you've got Asbestos and friends over at brownhills. Industrials often have names, it would appear.

[Dampflok]

Don't forget the Isle of Wight locos - named after towns/villages on the island:

 

http://geoff-plumb.fotopic.net/p54480042.html

 

and also the Isle of Man where the tank engines were also named.

 

Sticking with island lines there is a named 2-6-0T on the narrow gauge in Sardinia, picture here:

 

http://geoff-plumb.fotopic.net/p30261071.html

 

and also, in Java, some of the sugar industrial tank engines were named too, such as:

 

http://geoff-plumb.fotopic.net/p43946942.html

 

Cheers, Geoff

[boogaloo]

One of the pre grouping railways absorbed into the LMS was The Garstang and Knott End Railway. It only operated tank engines and all were named.

 

1870: Black, Hawthorn 0-4-2ST Hebe

1874: Manning Wardle 0-4-0ST Union

1875: Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST Farmer's Friend (alias "Pilling Pig")

1885: Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST Hope

1897: Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST Jubilee Queen

1900: Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST New Century

1908: Manning Wardle 0-6-0T Knott End

1909: Manning Wardle 2-6-0T Blackpool

 

"Blackpool" was AFAIK the only standard guage 2-6-0T to run on british rails and all trains on the line eventually became affectionately known to locals as the "Pilling Pig", originally this was due to the shrill sound of the whistle of Farmer's Friend.

 

Some Links if anyones interested:

 

From the very informative "Goods And Not So Goods" website

 

A newspaper piece from the Garstang Courier

 

Wikipedia Entry

[Oldddudders]

LB&SCR examples are legion since for a period they named almost everything: relatively unusual for a 'major' railway but common practise, as noted above, on many minor and industrial railways.

This accurate contribution has failed to make the necessary impact - the Brighton had several hundred named tank engines, from tiddly 0-6-0s (A1s, aka Terriers) to mega Baltics (Lawson Billinton's L class). In the Stroudley and Robert Billinton eras the only locos that didn't get names were freight locos with tenders. The successor Southern Railway seemed to like the idea, too, because its K class tanks all got names (the ill-fated River class).

 

Names for tank engines are, quite simply - normal!

[gwrrob]

Names for tank engines are, quite simply - normal!

 

 

Not on GW 45xx's they're not !

[The Stationmaster]

 

 

 

Not on GW 45xx's they're not !

 

Exactly so. But in early broad gauge days all GWR tank engines were named (just as well really because they didn't have numbers ).

 

'Goliath' was actually a broad gauge loco name although it was spelt 'Goliah' back then and wasn't on a tank engine. Presumably the SDR thought 'Goliath', on a large eight-couple tank engine would be more appropriate and impress folk a lot more than a genuine GWR tank engine name such as 'Locust' or 'Theocritus'?

[Adam]

This accurate contribution has failed to make the necessary impact - the Brighton had several hundred named tank engines, from tiddly 0-6-0s (A1s, aka Terriers) to mega Baltics (Lawson Billinton's L class). In the Stroudley and Robert Billinton eras the only locos that didn't get names were freight locos with tenders. The successor Southern Railway seemed to like the idea, too, because its K class tanks all got names (the ill-fated River class).

 

Names for tank engines are, quite simply - normal!

 

Thanks Ian, maybe I should start writing in something bolder?

 

As Mike (Staionmaster) points out, there's good GWR precedent (from those interesting, pre-Churhward days).

 

Adam

[Barry Rhys]

I know theres examples but the tanks on the PDSR are normal 45xx/42xxs.

 

Rob, I think I have similar feelings about naming preserved locos that wouldn't be expected to have names - I personally prefer not to see it done, but I guess customers are crucial, and it's up to the owners really.

 

For industrials, just about every tank engine in Victorian photos appears to have a name, frequently some Greek fire-breathing god, or the contractor's wife (probably also a fire-breathing god). In fact the name 'Hercules' is very common, for obvious reasons I guess.

 

But for a real mainline example, the London, Tilbury & Southend Railway has to be the winner. Until its takeover by the Midland in 1912, the LT&SR owned 82 locos, all but 2 of which were tank engines (mostly 4-4-2Ts, but a few 0-6-2Ts) - and every tank had its own name! Indeed, the only 2 unnamed engines were the LT&SR's two 0-6-0 tender engines.

 

The engines started out being named after places in London and Essex actually served by the railway, but as these were used up the names had to be extended to places lying close by the railway. By 1912 further place names were becoming scarce - No.78 was actually named 'Dagenham Dock', hardly an inspiring name for a pretty mainline engine - so maybe the Midland takeover was a little timely! The LT&SR painted the names in large letters on the tank sides rather than using metal nameplates, and must have confused many a passenger about the destination of the train. You want to go to Tottenham, the destination board says Fenchurch Street, but the engine says Southend!

 

Sadly the Midland insisted on removing all of the names and simply renumbering. One loco has been preserved though, No.80 'Thundersley' at Bressingham Steam Museum in Norfolk.

 

Neil

[Oldddudders]

Thanks Ian, maybe I should start writing in something bolder?

Sorry Adam - it was the lack of response, not the quality of your input, that was my intended point! Hundreds of small tank locos, painted in Improved Engine Green (a sort of orange/ochre, actually), all sporting names from their own hinterland, or even Continental Europe, was a huge contrast to the more muted colours of such humble engines elsewhere - named or otherwise!

 

There are times when I feel that the Southern input tends to be of little interest to a majority of RMWebbers. People have been known to say they dislike Bulleid pacifics. It takes all sorts.

[Invicta]

Staying with a Southern theme, didn't some of the ex-Colonel Stephens locomotives inherited by BR retain their names to the end?- I'm thinking of the KESR's 0-8-0T Hecate, and the 3 ex-PDSWJR tank engines- the 0-6-0T A.S. Harris, and the two 0-6-2s , Earl of Mount Edgcumbe and Lord St. Leven

 

I'm not averse to names on tank engines, some of the industrial users gave their locos some fairly stirring and dignified names, almost more suited to main line express locos (IIRC, weren't some of the NCB Austerities in the North West named after RN battleships- Renown, Repulse etc?), though I'm never totally sure about the practice of naming main line locos in preservation that didn't originally carry names

[Arthur]

(IIRC, weren't some of the NCB Austerities in the North West named after RN battleships- Renown, Repulse etc?), 

 

Yes, Respite was another, here it is at Astley Green Colliery in 1970.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[roythebus]

DUCK!

 

Thanks to the late Wilbur Awdry.