The article by Geoff Courtney in issue 244 of nameplate Knight of the Thistle from GWR Star class No. 4012 coming up for auction reminded me that this was one of several nameplates hanging for years on a garage inside wall just along the road from me.
Two others were Tre Pol and Pen from Dukedog No. 9065, which my father, who was a GWR railwayman, had fired on, and King Arthur.
These nameplates are just the ones I bring to mind – there were plenty more, as well as cabside numberplates. They were owned by another GWR railwayman who was nicknamed ‘Chuffer’, and he was paying between £10 and £20 for them. I am 82 now, and I am talking about the early-1950s.
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Dick Starr, Chapmanslade, Wiltshire
➜ Geoff Courtney writes: The King Arthur nameplate to which Dick refers would have come from a GWR 4-4-0 that was built in August 1895 as Duke class No. 3258. This engine was renumbered 3257 in 1912, had its King Arthur name removed in May 1927, and was withdrawn in May 1937 when its boiler was used in the build of Earl ‘Dukedog’ class No. 3213.
There was of course another King Arthur, SR No. 30453, but this wasn’t withdrawn until July 1961.
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