Any takers for an original nameplate for Sherwood Forester? The scene yesterday at Sheffield Railwayana auction in Derby, where Lot 100 was looking for a new home. The bidding started at £5000 and the hammer fell at £5750 plus 10% commission after just a couple of bids from the floor, which was probably a little disappointing for the auctioneer.
The nameplate looked to be an original although the authenticity was mainly from the backing plate which was corroded on the rear and had the mounting studs in the correct locations. The auction catalogue stated that the crest was a replica, and it appeared to be from the same pattern used for the crests on our loco today.
While Derby Works was open, the occasional missing nameplates were usually replaced, suggesting the original patterns must have been kept for many years. Whether the nameplate sold at auction was an original from the 1961 naming is probably impossible to tell now. Towards the end of their days, the peaks lost their crests and ran around for a few more years just with the nameplates. After the Works closed, the nameplates from the B-side of the locos gradually disappeared as they were easy to unbolt from the boiler room walkway, and finally the nameplates from the other side went. The staff at Toton made up a few replacement nameplates from aluminium chequerplate painted red with stick on letters, and we have one from Sherwood in our collection. Later the remaining peaks that were transferred to Tinsley received handpainted names by fitters Phil and Harold. Somebody now has a bargain piece of modern traction history for their mantlepiece.
