William Whitelaw, chairman of the LNER, used to joke there were three locomotives running on his system at the same time all named after him:
The Pacific 'William Whitelaw'
D30 4-4-0 'Wandering Willie'
J36 0-6-0 'Ole Bill'
I wonder which one his wife thought most appropriate?
Hal o' the Wynd was a character in one of Walter Scott's 'Waverley' novels, the name first being applied in a railway context to one of the North British 'Scott' class 4-4-0s, subsequently passing to a Peppercorn A1 Pacific and latterly to a class 87 electric locomotive.
Ah, thanks for the explanation. Mr Scott certainly had a mind for intriguing names. I remember a friend told me 50+ years ago that one of the Hal o' the Wynd plates had ended up in a pub in South Shields or thereabouts, but I've never been able to confirm that.
Surprised that nobody has yet mentioned the LNER naming of the B1 class. The initial locomotives were named after species of antelope, many of them obscure but including “GNU”. After this proved insufficient they resorted to railway directors such as William Hinton Carver in contrast to the economy of a nameplate just three letters long
IT really is a bit of a weird choice, when you think about it. Of course, at the time, Britain had colonies in Africa, so a few people would have been aware of many of the species, but even so.
I did see that. It had the standard size nameplate, roughly the length of the smokebox, and was rendered 'G N U' to fill up the space.
That's really bizarre! i wonder if Michael Flanders saw the locomotive and got the idea of the GerNu song?
A regular on Northampton - Peterborough trains was 61005 'BONGO' a name which, without explanation of context, might have struck the passenger as puzzling.
It was a March loco in the early 60s, I believe.
The naming after directors may have been connected with the imminent demise of the LNER.
Good spot. What about Strang Steel? (Have I got that right?)
Yes, 43043 Leicestershire County Cricket Club, 43115 Yorkshire Cricket Academy.
Ah, interesting. A bit random though. Would be nice to have a whole class dedicated though, starting with Sir Garfield Sobers, perhaps ...
According to D.L.Bradley, who saw original paperwork, the headmaster who retired in 1934 (and later became Primate of New Zealand) objected because it was too much like advertising. His successor, later Lord Wolfenden, wrote and requested that the name be removed.
I have read (perhaps in here) that at least one of the Uppingham nameplates is on display in the school - rather ironic, if true, given its history.
