Auction Catalogue: Great Central Railwayana, 20 January 2007
| Lot 30 | A GWR Cast Iron Cabside Numberplate "5", from an ex Weston Clevedon & Portishead Light Railway 0-6-0T which started life as a London Brighton & South Coast Railway "Terrier" built by William Stroudley at Brighton Works in 1877, their No 43 named "Gypsy Hill". It was renumbered 643 in 1902 and became SR B643 (B=Brighton). It was sold to the WCPLR, an independent Light Railway managed with other similar lines by the famous Colonel HF Stephens, in either December 1925 or January 1926, becoming their No 2 and named "PORTISHEAD", a name it retained for the remainder of its life. As it weighed only 28 tons, it was ideally suited to the Light Railway. It was one of two ex Terriers acquired, the other becoming GWR No 6. In 1940 the WCPLR went into liquidation and the GWR as its largest creditor took over most of its assets including its locos. As No 5 the GWR sent it to St Philips Marsh where it was used on the Bristol Harbour lines and other light duties. In December 1948 it was transferred to Taunton and in January 1950 to Newton Abbot where it acted as shed pilot for a month or two before being placed in the Stock Shed at Swindon Works; there it remained for four years, emerging only to be condemned in March 1954 after a life of 77 years. The lowest numbered cabside we have auctioned (and are likely to) and undoubtedly one of the most interesting. The plate is of the usual pattern though 13_" wide, the front was repainted when it was acquired, the back is totally untouched. |
| This lot sold for £6600 |
Please note: that the '_' (underscore character) after the inches shown above represents a fractional
measurement that, for technical reasons, is missing from the dimensions shown in this on-line catalogue.
The print version of the catalogue has the full dimensional information, including fractions of an inch.
The auction catalogue page that includes a photograph of Lot 30 is shown below:
