Uploaded April 2021 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Seventy years ago today, gleaming BR Standard Class Five pioneer 73000 was unveiled at Marylebone to the press and public. I wanted to pay a special Neville Grove tribute with two Standard Fives from my own collection. Both are very different in their weathering, but both have fascinating stories:
"Camelot" is in polished oily-rag splendour, as befits a prized, named loco near the beginning of her career on the Southern Region, and as she appears today on the Bluebell Railway. Camelot is also a particularly celebrated "Class Five", as it's reported that on the Christmas Eve of 1964 she hit 107mph!
To my knowledge, that's faster than any known Bulleid Pacific top speed, and is a whopping 82mph faster than she is permitted to run in preservation.
Then it's a very different 'end of days' look for 73050, as she was in the last days of steam, with crusty, dusty and rusty weathering finishes.
Not to be outdone, this loco is also preserved on The Nene Valley Railway and has its own remarkable story and claim to fame. On 20th September 1968, (well over a month AFTER the great August '68 finale with Oliver Cromwell et al.) she made a secret, midnight, run from Manchester to Peterborough where preservation awaited. This would have been during the strict BR steam ban and therefore means it may well have been the last steam locomotive to have been operated by BR on British Railways.
However, seventy years ago, the spring of 1951 was a time of renewed hope and optimism on Britain's railways. After the years of WW2 austerity and the complications of uniting the "Big Four" into one body, the newly nationalised British Railways was ready to stamp its own corporate identity on locos and rolling stock.
In January, 4-6-2 'Britannia' brought in the New Year in fine style and more of the big express locos rolled out of the works throughout 1951.
On March 15th - BR launched its own coach, the soon to be famous MK1 and announced they'd be building over a thousand.
But it was in April 1951 at Derby, that a new loco was launched - with a distinctive look, which was somehow familiar.
The new "Standard Class Five", along with the Britannia's, heralded a modern era of simplified design with a huge premium on easy access and easy maintenance. Yet in no way could it be seen as a break from the past, as it had a long heritage, stretching back to the GWR and Colletts "Hall" class of 1924.
William Stanier took the principles of the Hall, the taper boiler and the elegant simplicity of its layout, from Swindon to Crewe and applied them to the task of designing a new modern range of mixed traffic locos for the LMS. More than 800 were eventually built and were known simply as "Black Fives".
Robert Riddles had become Stanier's principal assistant and was in a position to see, first hand, the relative simplicity and immediate success of the two-cylinder Black Five, and saw little reason to change it. The family resemblance is plain to see.
The boilers were practically identical. The only difference was that Riddles opted for a driving wheel diameter of 6ft 2ins, the same size as his new Britannia class, but a two inch increase over the Black Fives. This would have given them a greater turn of speed over their ancestors.
It says lot for this seemingly utilitarian design that engine men in Kent lobbied to have names from the withdrawn 'King Arthur" class transferred to their new Standard 5 class - and so Camelot came into being. One of the favourites in my collection, it's been great to give it the "Neville Grove" treatment in honour of this important anniversary.
Seventy years ago today, gleaming BR Standard Class Five pioneer 73000 was unveiled at Marylebone to the press and public. I wanted to pay a special Neville Grove tribute with two Standard Fives from my own collection. Both are very different in their weathering, but both have fascinating stories:
"Camelot" is in polished oily-rag splendour, as befits a prized, named loco near the beginning of her career on the Southern Region, and as she appears today on the Bluebell Railway. Camelot is also a particularly celebrated "Class Five", as it's reported that on the Christmas Eve of 1964 she hit 107mph!
To my knowledge, that's faster than any known Bulleid Pacific top speed, and is a whopping 82mph faster than she is permitted to run in preservation.
Then it's a very different 'end of days' look for 73050, as she was in the last days of steam, with crusty, dusty and rusty weathering finishes.
Not to be outdone, this loco is also preserved on The Nene Valley Railway and has its own remarkable story and claim to fame. On 20th September 1968, (well over a month AFTER the great August '68 finale with Oliver Cromwell et al.) she made a secret, midnight, run from Manchester to Peterborough where preservation awaited. This would have been during the strict BR steam ban and therefore means it may well have been the last steam locomotive to have been operated by BR on British Railways.
However, seventy years ago, the spring of 1951 was a time of renewed hope and optimism on Britain's railways. After the years of WW2 austerity and the complications of uniting the "Big Four" into one body, the newly nationalised British Railways was ready to stamp its own corporate identity on locos and rolling stock.
In January, 4-6-2 'Britannia' brought in the New Year in fine style and more of the big express locos rolled out of the works throughout 1951.
On March 15th - BR launched its own coach, the soon to be famous MK1 and announced they'd be building over a thousand.
But it was in April 1951 at Derby, that a new loco was launched - with a distinctive look, which was somehow familiar.
The new "Standard Class Five", along with the Britannia's, heralded a modern era of simplified design with a huge premium on easy access and easy maintenance. Yet in no way could it be seen as a break from the past, as it had a long heritage, stretching back to the GWR and Colletts "Hall" class of 1924.
William Stanier took the principles of the Hall, the taper boiler and the elegant simplicity of its layout, from Swindon to Crewe and applied them to the task of designing a new modern range of mixed traffic locos for the LMS. More than 800 were eventually built and were known simply as "Black Fives".
Robert Riddles had become Stanier's principal assistant and was in a position to see, first hand, the relative simplicity and immediate success of the two-cylinder Black Five, and saw little reason to change it. The family resemblance is plain to see.
The boilers were practically identical. The only difference was that Riddles opted for a driving wheel diameter of 6ft 2ins, the same size as his new Britannia class, but a two inch increase over the Black Fives. This would have given them a greater turn of speed over their ancestors.
It says lot for this seemingly utilitarian design that engine men in Kent lobbied to have names from the withdrawn 'King Arthur" class transferred to their new Standard 5 class - and so Camelot came into being. One of the favourites in my collection, it's been great to give it the "Neville Grove" treatment in honour of this important anniversary.
