Academy Of Profits

Soon after the railways were nationalised in 1948, the then newly formed British Railways Board (BRB) undertook a review of the locomotive stock which had been inherited from the ‘Big Four’ independent railway companies. It soon became apparent that the entire locomotive fleet was constituted of hundreds of different class types, many of which were nearing retirement or in some cases, were already life-expired. From the outset the government-owned organisation needed to reduce costs as quickly and as practical as possible. This would not be easy with a war-battered railway. However, work began straight away and in its first 12 months, the BRB had enlisted the services of the renowned locomotive engineer Robert A Riddles, formerly of the LMS, to assume responsibility for the Mechanical & Electrical Engineering department. Riddles first task was developing a new small range of new steam locomotive designs, the intention being that they replace the older pre-nationalisation locomotives.

Riddles’ opted for a plan of action which was to use the best pre-nationalisation designs and incorporate the finest qualities of each into his standardised locomotives, thus procuring the best of the engineering feats from all of the former railway companies. His first move towards creating the new designs were the ‘Locomotive Exchange Trials’. Riddles started his quest by choosing a number of express type locomotives from each of the newly-formed Regions and utilising them on ‘foreign’ territory. As an example, LMS locomotives operated over the Southern Region where there were no water troughs. These were thus paired with four-axled ex-War Department tenders with larger water tanks. These were given LMS lettering especially for the occasion. In a similar way, ex-Southern Region locomotives used elsewhere were paired with ex-LMS tenders with water scoops. This yielded some important information for the design team on how suitable particular locomotive classes were to certain stretches of line.

On completion of the Locomotive Exchange Trials, Riddles’ Chief Draftsmen put pen to paper and began to formulate the first of the then new ’standardised’ steam locomotives. Officially, these comparisons were intended to establish the best qualities of the four different schools of thought of locomotive design in order to incorporate them in the new BR standard designs. However, the testing had little scientific rigour, and taking Riddles’ background into account and other political influences, it was almost predictable that LMS practice was largely followed by the new standard designs regardless, and it is therefore hardly surprising that virtually all of Riddles’ final products would bear much resemblance to the designs pioneered by the LMS, particularly those locomotives which were designes of Stanier and Ivatt.

However, the trials served as a useful publicity stunt for BR to show the unity of the new British Railways. By 1950 the first express passenger locomotive design had been finalised at Derby and later that same year, the British Transport Commission placed an order with Crewe Works for the construction of twenty-four of the type. What came forth from Crewe on 2nd January 1951 was a 4-6-2 Pacific locomotive looking bearing a significant resemblance to the Coronation class of locomotives designed by William Stanier, also formerly of the LMS. The imposing engine, finished in a plain black scheme with no lining, was scheduled for a test run between Crewe and Carlisle on 11th January 1951, a dynamometer carriage being one of the carriages it was to haul. After the run, which proved to be a promising start for the class, the locomotive, numbered 70000, was repainted into the much more familiar lined BR Brunswick Green and delivered to Marylebone station on the last but one day of January to be named. No. 70000 was appropriately called ‘Britannia’, after the female personification of the British Empire, and it marked a very promising step forward for BR.

To mark the Sixtieth Anniversary of the 1948 Locomotive Exchange Trials, in 2008 Hornby Railways released a Limited Edition Model of a 4-6-2 West Country Class Locomotive ‘Bude’ No 34006. This model, represents the classic pairing of a Southern Region Bulleid Pacific with a Stanier Tender. For the collectors out there, the Hornby R2685 West Country Class ‘Bude’ with Stanier Tender was only produced in a limited run of 2008 and each of the model trains came with a numbered Certificate of Authentication.