Locomotive gauges

Resource Type: Image | Posted on 14th November 2011 by Liam Physick

This shows the various rail gauges, both standard and narrow. At the bottom we see an example of the Princess Royal Class, a class of express Pacific Class locomotives built by William Stanier for the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, and numbered 6200-6212 (46200-46212 after nationalisation). 13 were built at Crewe between 1933 and 1935, though one of those, No. 6202 Turmobotive was a unique locomotive that used turbines instead of cylinders. Rebuilt as a conventional locomotive in August 1952 and renamed Princess Anne, it was taken out of service just two months later following the Harrow and Wealdstone crash (in which it was double-heading a train with No. 45637 Windward Islands, a Jubilee Class locomotive). The Princess Royal Class was so named because they were built to pull the Royal Scot train between London Euston and Glasgow Central, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Scots Regiment at that time was Mary, Princess Royal, daughter of King George V. Each locomotive in the Class was named after a Princess. In the early 1960s, the Princess Royals were withdrawn from service as a result of dieselisation, but two were preserved - the Princess Elizabeth (named after the future Queen Elizabeth II) and the Princess Margaret Rose (named after the current Queen’s sister - one wonders if it was because of their names that these two were chosen to be saved from scrap)

Tagged under: steam locomotives, tender locomotives, diesel locomotives, london midland and scottish railway, pacific class locomotives, rail gauge, harrow and wealdstone crash, princess elizabeth, princess royal class locomotives, jubilee class locomotives

Categorised under: Landmarks, Landscapes & Locomotives