GNR L1 0-8-2T as a mobile billboard

[DerekC]

Whilst pottering round about the history of the City Widened Lines (part of the Metropolitan Railway, now partly used by Thameslink) I found this extraordinary photograph of the prototype GNR L1 0-8-2T No 116. It's clear that the locomotive is in ex-works condition - I think in photographic grey. The class was designed for use on suburban services via the Widened Lines. It's also notable that it is in original condition with large boiler and long side tanks, which didn't last very long because it exceeded the Metropolitan's maximum axle load. The loco was heavily modified with smaller diameter, shorter boiler, shorter side tanks and larger cab - presumably before being put into service.

So the question is - what on earth was it got up like this for and where was it displayed (if it actually was displayed - or was this just for the photographers?)

 

[Ashley Hill]

Perhaps the GN were experimenting with advertising space. A precursor to what happens today.

 

[Rescars]

Splendid photo. Got to be a story here. The finish does look like photographic grey. I do like the idea that the space on the side of the bunker remains to be let.

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Perhaps the GN were experimenting with advertising space. A precursor to what happens today.

What would they have done if vinyl wraps had been available?!

 

[Gloster]

It could be one of those daft ideas that publicity departments come up with (“Why don’t we put posters on the sides of locos?”), but if it was, I wonder if it was being taken seriously due to the ‘This space to let’ on the bunker. Or could it be going to some exhibition and was being used as a billboard for that?

 

[DerekC]

Splendid photo. Got to be a story here. The finish does look like photographic grey. I do like the idea that the space on the side of the bunker remains to be let.

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Yes - it looks like a professional photo. And in fact a very short dabble in the sample of the Doncaster Works Archive on the NRM website reveals that this was indeed a works photograph.

It could be one of those daft ideas that publicity departments come up with (“Why don’t we put posters on the sides of locos?”), but if it was, I wonder if it was being taken seriously due to the ‘This space to let’ on the bunker. Or could it be going to some exhibition and was being used as a billboard for that?

I agree with both points - and if it was going to an exhibition, where?

It does occur to me that the fact that the loco was substantially overweight for its designed use must have been a bit of an embarrassment! According to the GNR Society website, the design was (as far as boiler, cylinders and wheels are concerned) a repeat of the "401" class goods 0-8-0, so predicting the all up weight at the design stage should have been an easy job. I wonder how long the loco sat around the works whilst the powers that be decided what to do with it. Long enough for someone to use it as a billboard as a bit of a joke?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I agree with both points - and if it was going to an exhibition, where?

The class was introduced in 1903... a quick Google isn't showing up anything major in the UK in that year, so if this was for an exhibition anywhere it must have been a fairly local one?

 

[Rescars]

Interesting that the GNR came up with this 10 wheeled design for inner suburban traffic just one year after Holden created the Decapod for the GER. Weight was clearly a problem, but it seems the class was moderately successful as a freight loco after the original design of the larger boiler was reinstated.

 

[Gloster]

A look at the Great Northern Railway Society‘s site suggests that the first loco did enter service on the Metropolitan lines but only briefly, possibly very briefly. The photo appears to be of it when originally built, not after modification.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Perhaps they are just random posters stuck to the loco to see how selling advertising space might look. I can’t imagine any loco looking good with Faulkner’s Nosegay Shag or Spratts dogfood in the side.

 

[Rescars]

Just imagine the fuss if the Midland or Great Central had tried to rent the space to promote their services to the same destinations!