October 2024: Locomotive Nameplates
October’ Object of the Month features locomotive nameplates that have recently been put on display in the entrance area of STEAM by our wonderful volunteers. The selection of nameplates chosen for this area date from 1894 to the 1970s and are an example of the range of names given to locomotives over the years and show how the design of nameplates has changed.
Volunteers Andrew and Keith installing nameplates at STEAM Museum
Since the early days of the railways, it has been common practice for passenger locomotives to be given a name as well as a number. A name was not only an easy way to identify a particular locomotive, it also gave it a unique character of its own.
The GWR put a lot of thought into choosing these names. Classes of engines tended to be given a theme, such as Castles, Stars, Royalty or Flowers, and then individual names chosen that generally fitted that theme.
When named locomotives were taken out of service some of the nameplates were removed and saved, particularly those from the most famous engines. This has ensured that many of these important artefacts still survive today.
The nameplates now on display in the entrance at STEAM include two HST nameplates, Old Oak Common and Bristol St Phillip’s Marsh, that were donated to the museum collection by the current GWR Train Operating Company. Earl (Dukedog) Class nameplate Tre-Pol and Pen, with its latter number plate 9065. Class 52 Diesel name and number plates from Western Enterprise and Western Bulwark and Armstrong Class nameplate, Charles Saunders
You can see many more locomotive nameplates from famous GWR and BR engines on the walls as you go around STEAM.
Old Oak Common and Bristol St Philip’s Marsh name plates.
Nameplates in STEAM Museum entrance.
