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London North Western
Railway:
Midland
Railway:
Stratford
Midland Junction Railway
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LMS Route: Rugby to Wolverhampton LMS Route: Nuneaton to
Leamington
Coventry Station: lnwrcov629
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The central island platform forming platforms 2 and 3 is
well advanced in this view looking towards Rugby circa 1962. The overstructure
is the roof to the footbridge which provided access to all four platforms. The
ramp seen in the centre is the base of the formwork/shuttering used to cast the
reinforced concrete forming the steps from platforms 2 and 3. This is the
location where the nameplate 'City of Coventry', from the scrapped ex-LMS 4-6-2
Princess Coronation Class No 462409 locomotive, was located. The were an
enlarged version of the LMS Princess Royal Class with several examples
(including the City of Coventry) originally built in streamlined form, though
this was later removed.. The non-streamlined locomotives were often referred to
as 'Duchesses', though to enginemen they were often known as 'Big Lizzies'. The
Princess Coronation Class were the most powerful passenger steam locomotives
ever to be built for the British railway network, estimated at 3300 horsepower
and making them far more powerful than the diesel engines that replaced them.
Three of the Class have been preserved: No 6229 'Duchess of Hamilton'; No 6233
'Duchess of Sutherland' have both been in service on main line railtours. The
third locomotive completed, No 6235 'City of Birmingham', was the centerpiece
in the now defunct Birmingham Science Museum which had the locomotive put in
situ and the museum built around her. Following a successful appeal run by
Steam Railway Magazine, No 6229 has been re-streamlined and moved to Tyseley
Locomotive Works, where the work was carried out. The project was completed in
2009, with the locomotive being returned to York on 18th May 2009 now wearing
her LMS number 6229.
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