Wagons roll as huge collection goes under the hammer

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By Geoff Courtney

ONE of the more esoteric subjects in the wide-ranging world of railwayana is wagonplates, but devotees to this subject are as passionate and knowledgeable as aficionados of such higher-profile categories as nameplates or signalling equipment.

Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire will therefore be the place to be on December 1, when Great Central Railwayana Auctions will be putting under the hammer a selection of wagonplates from one of the largest and most varied collections of such railwayana to ever come onto the market.

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Run of the mill: Driver Charles Richardson on the footplate of an Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 fireless locomotive (works No. 2049) which operated on the Croxley Mill railway system in Hertfordshire from 1937 until withdrawal in 1967. One of the engine’s worksplates, the left-hand example of which is in the photograph, will be going under the hammer at auction on December 1. CROXLEY GREEN HISTORY PROJECT www.croxleygreenhistory.co.uk

The plates were amassed by a retired BR driver who died earlier this year aged 68. He created the collection over many decades, and at the time of his passing had more than 1000 examples at his Hertfordshire home, some of which the auction house had never previously seen or was even aware of.

Mike Soden, a director of Great Central Railwayana who will be wielding the hammer at Stoneleigh, said: “The collector was a regular at our auctions, and I had known him for at least 30 years. Wagonplates may not have as large a following as some other categories, but they do attract collectors who like something different from mainstream items.

Read more in Issue 248 of HR – on sale now!

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