Following the recent passing of Kenneth Phillips, who lived in Bretton, but spent many years as a fireman on the railways in New England, the executors of his will were instructed to auction off his remarkable collection of locomotive memorabilia.
Hidden away in his house, very few collectors had any idea what Kenneth had spirited away from loco sheds at the end of the widespread use of steam powered trains in the 1960s and even if the items had survived at all.
As it turned out, he quietly and diligently amassed nameplates and smokebox number plates from his favourite engines – the LMS ‘Jubilee’ class.
His collection includes 17 nameplates from a mixture of locations within the British Empire, such as: Uganda, Punjab, Western Australia, British Guiana and many more. Alongside this is 20 Jubilee
smokebox number plates, 24 locomotive shed code plates from sheds where Jubilee’s were stabled, five express headboards and ten smokebox number plates from other locomotives.
The plates cover almost 20% of the entire class of locomotives.
Neil Booth, specialist Railwayana Auctioneer and owner of
Railwayana Auctions UK Ltd, said: “This is by far the find of the decade in steam locomotive collecting circles and we look forward to them finding new homes when they come to auction in September.
We have already had strong interest from collectors who now have the opportunity to match number plates with their nameplates and vice-versa.”
The items will be going under the hammer in Crewe between September 10 and 12 but before then, a viewing day will be held on September 4 at Crewe Heritage Centre, where most of the engines were built.
Entrance is £5, with all proceeds going to the centre and shuttle buses are available from the mainline station.
Further details of the collection can be found at ukrailwayana.com or by emailing [email protected].
