BRITISH STEAM MILITARY CONNECTIONS

From the beginning of railway travel British steam locomotives had numbers, and many also were given names, with aristocratic, engineering and military themes predominating. This comprehensive study of locomotive naming opens with a highly entertaining correspondence from 1936, when representatives of "The Old Contemptibles", the nickname of the professional soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force in WWI, requested that an engine be named after them. The request was rejected by the legendary W. A. Stanier, chief engineer of the LMS Railway, on the basis that it would arouse negative comment, but he was overruled by the top brass and the engine 6127 "Novelty" was duly renamed the following month while the band played "It's a Long Way to Tipperary". Stanier designed 14 classes of LMS locomotive and his 2-cylinder 4-6-0 engines colloquially known as the "Black Five" class were said to be the most efficient design of mixed traffic locomotives seen in Great Britain, remaining in service until 1961, with many surviving until the end of steam in 1968. Only four were named, none of which has been preserved: Lanarkshire Yeomanry, Ayrshire Yeomanry, The Glasgow Yeomanry and The Glasgow Highlander, the latter seen here in 1947 before the renumbering by British Rail the following year. Stanier's 4-6-0 Jubilee Class, commencing in 1934 with the Silver Jubilee of George V, is the subject of an extended section, with detailed notes on the battles and commanders commemorated. Elizabethan mariners include Raleigh, Hawkins, Howard of Effingham and Frobisher, and from the 18th century Nelson and Hood, after whom the doomed HMS Hood battlecruiser was also named. The Jubilee engine Cyclops, one of a group of names from Greek mythology, is pictured here emerging from the Forth Bridge, and other featured classes include the 1927 Royal Scot class commemorating regiments such as the Lancashire Fusiliers and Royal Ulster Riflemen. The Royal Scot class Grenadier Guardsman is pictured here in Birmingham New Street station when electrification was already under way in the 1960s, while The Royal Irish Fusilier is accompanied by a photo of the regiment in the trenches on the Gallipoli peninsula during WWI. 23 x 28cm, 224pp, colour and archive photos on every page together with a highly informative historical commentary.