21C151 ''Winston Churchill'' is a
Southern Railway Battle of Britain class
The SR West Country and Battle of Britain classes, collectively known as ''Light Pacifics'' or informally as ''Spam Cans'', are air-smoothed 4-6-2 ''Pacific'' steam locomotives designed for the Southern Railway by its Chief Mechanical Engine ...
4-6-2 Pacific
steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...
that has been preserved as part of the United Kingdom's
National Collection
The UK National Collection is a collection of around 280 historic rolling stock, rail vehicles (predominantly of British origin). The majority of the collection is kept at four national museums:
* National Railway Museum, York
* National Railwa ...
. It is on display at the
Locomotion Museum
Locomotion, previously known as Locomotion the National Railway Museum at Shildon, is a railway museum in Shildon, County Durham, England. The museum was renamed in 2017 when it became part of the Science Museum Group.
Overview
The museum was ...
at
Shildon
Shildon is a town and civil parish in County Durham, in England. The population taken at the 2011 Census was 9,976. The town has the Locomotion Museum, due to it having the first , built in 1825, and locomotive works on the Stockton and Darli ...
.
Career
21C151 was built at
Brighton Works
Brighton railway works (also known as Brighton locomotive works, or just the Brighton works) was one of the earliest railway-owned locomotive repair works, founded in 1840 by the London and Brighton Railway in Brighton, England, and thus pre-da ...
in 1946, being released to traffic on 30 December of that year.
Initially it was unnamed and paired with tender 3301. It was first allocated to
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
locomotive shed for services on the
West of England Main Line
The West of England line (also known as the West of England Main Line) is a British railway line from , Hampshire, to in Devon, England. Passenger services run between London Waterloo station and Exeter; the line intersects with the Wessex Ma ...
between London and
Exeter.
Naming
21C151 was officially named ''
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
'' in a ceremony at
Waterloo railway station on 11 September 1947. The former prime minister, by then Leader of the Opposition, was offered the chance to name the locomotive, but turned it down, claiming a prior engagement. The locomotive was named by
Lord Dowding
Air Chief Marshal Hugh Caswall Tremenheere Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, (24 April 1882 – 15 February 1970) was an officer in the Royal Air Force. He was Air Officer Commanding RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain and is generally ...
, who also named his own eponymous locomotive at the same ceremony. Churchill was the only person to decline the opportunity to name a Battle of Britain class locomotive after himself.
Modifications
In July/August 1947 it had its original flat-front cab altered to a more streamlined wedge-shaped, with a larger front window.
British Railways
It passed to
British Railways in January 1948 as part of nationalisation of Britain's railways. However it was October 1948 before it received its British Railways number 34051. It also kept its Southern Railway malachite green with chrome yellow striping until November 1950 when it was repainted into British Railways Brunswick green.
During an overhaul at
Eastleigh Works
Eastleigh Works is a locomotive, carriage and wagon building and repair facility in the town of Eastleigh, in the county of Hampshire in England.
History
LSWR
The London and South Western Railway (LSWR) opened a carriage and wagon works at Ea ...
in March 1949, 34051 swapped its tender (number 3301) for tender number 3280, formerly coupled to 21C128 ''Eddystone'' (tender 3301 was then attached to 34042 ''Dorchester'').
In February 1950, 34051 moved to Nine Elms locomotive shed in London, and continued to work the West of England Main Line, as well as the
Waterloo to Weymouth line. In August that year it had another change of tenders, 3280, its old tender, going to 34065 ''Hurricane'', while 34051 gained tender number 3316 (which 34067 ''Tangmere'' had had from new).
It would keep this tender for the rest of its British Railways service.
In April 1951 it was reallocated to Exmouth Junction shed, on the eastern outskirts of Exeter. Its opportunities to wander the network of branchlines west of Exeter known as 'The Withered Arm', were cut short when its allocation was changed to Salisbury only two months later.
It stayed at Salisbury for the rest of its career, becoming the shed's 'pet' locomotive, even being noted on the
Salisbury and Dorset Junction Railway
The Salisbury and Dorset Junction Railway was a railway company, that built a line from a junction near Salisbury to another near West Moors on the Ringwood to Wimborne line. It ran through the counties of Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset in En ...
line in June 1959 on the front of a Salisbury– cattle train.
During a General Repair at Eastleigh Works in November/December 1954, 34051 had its boiler pressure reduced from . At its next General, six years later, it was fitted with a speedometer and
Automatic Warning System
The Automatic Warning System (AWS) was introduced in the 1950s in the United Kingdom to provide a train driver with an audible warning and visual reminder that they were approaching a distant signal at caution.
Its operation was later extended t ...
apparatus, and tender 3316 had its cosmetic high-sides removed.
Funeral train
![Clapham Junction Sir Winston Churchill's Funeral Train geograph-2675150-by-Ben-Brooksbank](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Clapham_Junction_Sir_Winston_Churchill%27s_Funeral_Train_geograph-2675150-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg)
On 24 January 1965, Sir Winston Churchill died. His
state funeral
A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of Etiquette, protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive ...
on 30 January 1965 saw his coffin process up the
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...
on the before being transferred to Waterloo Station. A special train had been laid on to take the family to , seven miles north-west of
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. Handborough was the closest station to the parish church of
Bladon
Bladon is a village and civil parish on the River Glyme about northwest of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, notable as the burial place of Sir Winston Churchill. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 898.
Places of worship St Mart ...
where Churchill's body was to be interred. The train comprised:
* Battle of Britain class 34051 ''Winston Churchill,''
* Pullman guard-parlour car 208,
* Hearse van S2464S,
* Pullman kitchen-parlour car ''Carina'',
* Pullman kitchen-parlour car ''Lydia'',
* Pullman parlour car ''Perseus'',
* Pullman guard-parlour car ''Isle of Thanet''.
![SR GUV 2464 at Corfe Castle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/SR_GUV_2464_at_Corfe_Castle.JPG)
The
hearse
A hearse is a large vehicle, originally a horse carriage but later with the introduction of motor vehicles, a car, used to carry the body of a deceased person in a coffin at a funeral, wake, or memorial service. They range from deliberately a ...
was a Southern Railway Gangwayed Bogie Luggage van, no. 2464, which was built in 1931 as part of a batch of 30. It had been withdrawn from normal service in 1961, and was set aside and repainted into the Pullman cream and umber colours in July 1962. The van was kept out of public gaze in Stewarts Lane carriage sheds.
While being prepared, the locomotive carried the four discs in an inverted 'T' formation—the
headcode
A train reporting number in Great Britain identifies a particular train service. It consists of:
* A single-digit number, indicating the class (type) of train, followed by
* A letter, indicating the destination area, followed by
* A two-digi ...
for a
Royal train
A royal train is a set of railway carriages dedicated for the use of the monarch or other members of a royal family. Most monarchies with a railway system employ a set of royal carriages.
Australia
The various government railway operators of ...
,
but this was subsequently changed. The headcode used while pulling the special was one disc on each side of the locomotive's
smokebox
A smokebox is one of the major basic parts of a steam locomotive exhaust system. Smoke and hot gases pass from the firebox through tubes where they pass heat to the surrounding water in the boiler. The smoke then enters the smokebox, and is e ...
, and a third in the middle of the bufferbeam—a 'V' formation evoking Churchill's '
V for Victory
''V for Victory'', or ''V4V'' for short, is a series of turn-based strategy games set during World War II. They were the first releases for Atomic Games who went on to have a long career in the wargame industry.
Like earlier computer adaptions ...
' sign.
In reality, that headcode would normally only have been used for a breakdown train.
The train was routed via , , , , and ,
[''The Railway Magazine'': p. 134. March 1965.] where it left the
Southern Region and joined the
Western Region. The train continued to Handborough via Didcot East and North Junctions and . 34051 then retraced its route back to London
light engine
Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United St ...
,
the special train being taken back to
Paddington
Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...
by
'Western' class diesel-hydraulic D1015 ''Western Champion''.
34051 was withdrawn later that year on 19 September 1965, having covered .
Preservation
After hauling Churchill's funeral train, 34051 was earmarked for preservation, so in November 1965, 34051 was moved to
Hellifield
Hellifield is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England (). Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the village was once an important railway junction on the Settle-Carlisle Railway between th ...
for storage. It later spent some time at the
Didcot Railway Centre
Didcot Railway Centre is a railway museum and preservation engineering site in Didcot, Oxfordshire, England. The site was formerly a Great Western Railway engine shed and locomotive stabling point.
Background
The founders and commercial backers ...
. It then resided at the
National Railway Museum
The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historically significant ...
in York, as part of the UK National Collection. Repainting of the engine was completed at the Mid-Hants Railway at Ropley, Hampshire in December 2014 after which the engine was returned to York for display in the National Railway Museum in time for the 50th anniversary of the death of Winston Churchill on 20 January 2015, but the locomotive remains non-operational. In 2016 it was moved to the NRM's Shildon Locomotion Museum.
All six cars used in Churchill's funeral train survive in preservation,
with two Pullmans and the hearse van having spent several years in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. S2464S has been on the
Swanage Railway since being repatriated. It has been repainted into Pullman umber and cream and is now operational.
References
;Citations
;Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sr Battle Of Britain Class 21c151
West Country 34051
4-6-2 locomotives
Railway locomotives introduced in 1946
Individual locomotives of Great Britain
Monuments and memorials to Winston Churchill