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BR 1948 – summer and beyond Crossing Loch Etive at Connel Ferry Twilight of the ‘A3s’ Sligo, Leitrim & Northern Counties Railway Southern inter-regional trains: The Welsh connection … in full colour
On sale Thursday, 16 November 2023 In this issue of Steam Days we look at the two LMS ‘Patriot’ class 4-6-0s, Nos 5500 Patriot and 5501 St Dunstan’s, that retained the wheels of the original ‘Claughton’ class engines from which these two engines were rebuilt. These locomotives were ‘rebuilt’ at Derby in 1930 and withdrawn in 1961. They spent their early BR days allocated to Longsight shed in Manchester along with six other ‘Patriots’, and their original LMS numbers were 5971 (5500) and 5902 (5501), which they gained from their ‘Claughton’ donors. They were often unofficially referred to as ‘Baby Scots’, due to their similarity to the LMS ‘Royal Scot’ 4-6-0s.
My own recollections of ‘Patriots’ takes me back to my school holidays in the late 1940s and 1950 when I would spend most of my holiday at my uncle’s house, resulting in me spending hours on the end of the platform at Manchester (London Road) station trainspotting, having arrived at the nearby Mayfield station on my train from Gatley hauled by an LMS 2-6-2T or 2-6-4T. On that journey, as a young trainspotter, the one place I needed to be was by an open window as my train passed Longsight shed where I would record the numbers of the engines from the train, including ‘Patriots’ and ‘Royal Scots’. Later in the day some of these would arrive light engine at London Road station to take their trains to various destinations.
The ‘Patriots’ that particularly come to mind from those spotting days at Manchester were Nos 45500 and 45501 (featured in this issue of Steam Days). At Manchester and elsewhere, I would see ‘regulars’ at such places as Birmingham (New Street), Tamworth and Stafford. One of my favourites was No 45519 Lady Godiva, I wonder if she ever rode through Coventry with a with more powerful horsepower this time?
The services worked by the ‘Patriots’ ranged from expresses to Birmingham, London (Euston), and Glasgow, and Newcastle to Bristol trains (taking the Midland main line over the Lickey incline). They also worked over the North & West line through Shrewsbury and Hereford, over the West Coast Main Line north over Shap, and on the Windermere branch, and also into Eastern Region territory to Leeds and York. They could be seen on titled t
