The LNER Encyclopedia

Can anyone provide a definitive answer as to where the locomotive headboards used on LNER and later Eastern, North Eastern and certain Scottish line services were either cast or fabricated from sheet?

TIA.

According to my source at Doncaster (C1964/5) they were wooden and hand painted, but with a cast bracket on the rear.

The original was, I think, created at Haymarket for the Flying Scotsman, and like the NBR headboards, was painted wood with a metal bracket on the back to attach to the lamp iron. Kings X soon copied the idea and in due course headboards started to appear for all the major named trains.

Hi, can't speak for LNER boards but from late 40's in BR they were cast. A friend has one of the two 'Scarborough Flyer' headboards with two brass suns in each of the top corners, the headboard is made of cast aluminium & interestingly on the back in one corner is stamped other named trains that this size of board can be used for. I think I read somewhere the LNER ones were wood with the names hand painted & I think all boards were made at Doncaster.
Cheers
Ian H

As StJ says the original Scotsman headboard idea was pinched direct from the NBR destination boards ive seen many pics of locos from 0-6-0s upwards wearing them. Then Mr Eric Gill updated the concept. On the ECML headboard design reached its Zenith with the winged Thistle. Im suprised no one has thought of using LED displays on current mainline trains, im sure there could be many artistic designs turned out.

silverlink wrote:Hi, can't speak for LNER boards but from late 40's in BR they were cast. A friend has one of the two 'Scarborough Flyer' headboards with two brass suns in each of the top corners, the headboard is made of cast aluminium & interestingly on the back in one corner is stamped other named trains that this size of board can be used for. I think I read somewhere the LNER ones were wood with the names hand painted & I think all boards were made at Doncaster.
Cheers
Ian H

Thanks Silverlink.

I'm aware of a 'Butlins' BR headboard cast in aluminium that also has the names of other trains using the pattern. However these are not stamped in but 'scratched' into the soft metal and consequently difficult to decipher.

I'd be grateful for a list of the other named trains on your friend's 'Flyer' board, and also if anything is die-stamped on the edge of the casting.

For the record, my OP arose from a recent discussion with Dave Peel, of the 'Headboards' book fame. The only general question, as far as the LNER headboards were concerned, that he could not obtain an answer to was of their place(s) of production. I am attempting to elicit answers for him.

There was a notebook in the carriage paint shop at Doncaster (C1964/5) which had dimensioned sketches of the various headboards painted in that workshop during LNER days. It was still there when Royal BG 109 was restored in 1976 but may well have disappeared since. Unfortunately I did not take too much notice at the time, since there were other more important livery questions to be answered, but I do remember that it contained both double and single row lettering, the latter being on narrow boards like the NBR pattern. The inference was that most of the ECML headboards were prepared/painted at Doncaster, but I have no doubt that Stratford and other workshops produced boards local to them.

The BR cast headboards, from photographic evidence, seem to date from about 1950.

From a TV documentary: Eric Gill posing with 4472 and Flying Scotsman headboard in Gill Sans lettering.