Birmingham New Street - Pre-grouping Locomotives: lnwrbns_pg441

Ex-LNWR 4-6-0 Claughton class No 5964 'Patriot' is seen standing at the East end of Platform 1 on an up express service to Euston station. Named in commemoration of the LNWR employees killed in the First World War in January 1920, 'Patriot' always attended the annual Remembrance Day ceremony at Rugby shed where the LNWR War Memorial plaque was located on the inside of the back wall, a tradition continued by the LMS and British Railways with the LMS replacement Patriot class locomotive No 5500 Patriot and Royal Scot class No 6170 'British Legion'.

The history of the LNWR's War Memorial locomotive(s) is a little unclear insofar that when in early 1920 the Company decided that the first of a batch of modified Claughtons, Crewe works number 5502* then under construction, should receive the name 'Patriot', problems were experienced during the testing of the modifications thereby delaying its introduction into service. If no delays had been experienced it would have been allocated the running number LNWR No 69** from a Coal Tank withdrawn in January 1920. The delays however resulted in an earlier Claughton LNWR No 2097 being given the nameplate. The decision was made in April 1920 to renumber LNWR 4-4-0 Renown class No 1914 to No 1257 freeing up this appropriate number for the War Memorial Locomotive and this number was then applied to the delayed and intended recipient locomotive and the nameplate transferred from LNWR No 2097.

* Each locomotive built by any railway or private contractor would be allocated a 'works' number which identified the locomotive for all time irrespective of the running number it carried on the cab which could and was subject to change. The works number for the railway or contractor had commenced with the number one and was then applied sequentially. This meant that the above locomotive, Crewe works number 5502, was the five thousand five hundred and fifty-second locomotive to have built by Crewe since it had been opened.

** The LNWR's numbering system was not based upon the logical sequential numbering associated with later practice where each class had its own allotted set of numbers e.g. the LMS Jubilee class being numbered from 5502 to 5742. Essentially the LNWR's system was based on the locomotive numbering system inherited at its formation by the amalgamation of the London and Birmingham and Grand Junction Railway Companies. This system had logically started at No 1 and as new locomotives were purchased they were numbered sequentially upwards. However, the LNWR adopted the practice of backfilling vacant numbers by applying them to new locomotives when old locomotives were withdrawn. This meant the numbers allocated to the same class of locomotive were spread over the whole range of the LNWR's numbering system so that whilst the first Claughton introduced into service was numbered No 2222, the second was numbered No 1161, the third No 1191, the fourth 21 and so on.

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