The LNER Encyclopedia

With reference to "The Book of the A4 Pacifics" (Irwell Press).... the book contain a photograph of Merlin on Doncaster running shed in June 1948, probably soon after being out-shopped and painted in the experimental purple livery. As far as I can see the engine has not been fitted with a shed plate although the home depot, Haymarket, has been painted on the front cleading. Another photograph in the same book, taken in 1952, show the engine with a shed plate.

As our model of Merlin represents the engine in the period June to July 1948, when the engine was paired with a streamlined, non-corridor, tender, I wish to know if the shed plate was fitted before the engine was given a corridor tender in July 1948.

Information about fitting of the shed plate or suggestions as to possible research avenues will be appreciated.

Thank you, Graham Beare

The fitting of shed plates was, of course, inherited from LMS practice and in Scotland there remained a certain cold relationship between the old 'Caley' and 'NB' camps. Cowlairs long continued the practice of painting the allocations on the bufferbeams even after shed plates came in.

As the A4s were overhauled at Doncaster, unless the shed plates were fitted at Haymarket it would be a visit to 'The Plant' that occasioned the fitting of plates. I doubt whether the plates would have been fitted as early as July 1948 but so far cannot find any photographic evidence around that period to substantiate this.

My own gut feeling is that the plates would most likely appear no earlier than 1949.

Page 6 of Volume 1 of The Handbook of British Railways Steam Motive Power Depots records that the LMS-style shed plates and the BR shedcode list (apart from the Southern Region) were approved by the Railway Executive on 23 June 1949. For some obscure reason the SR didn't get its act together until early 1950.

On that basis, 60027 couldn't have had a shed plate fitted before the middle of 1949 and most likely not until later that year. I don't know why it would have had to visit Doncaster Works to get one - they were made locally according a standard design template (which was of course regularly departed from!) and could have been fitted in the shed.

Thanks for that Pyewipe Junction - I knew I had seen some reference to shed plates published in the past and that is where my feeling of no earlier than 1949 came from.