The latest offering by Sheffield Railwayana Auctions, on March 10th, produced yet more record-breaking figures as nearly 800 people gathered to attempt to purchase items from our railway past.
Inevitably locomotive nameplates led the field. A GWR Castle class example "Ludlow Castle" was the star item eventually realising an astonishing £30,600, plus another £7,500 for its brass numberplate. "Earl Kitchener of Khartoum" made £16,100; "Royal Ulster Rifleman" a similar figure; "Mercury" £15,600; "Madresfield Court" £15,000; "Ningwood" £10,000; "Naworth Castle" £9,200; "Keppel" £9,100; and "Defiance" (a class 50 diesel) £5,300.
When nameplates are removed from the equation, in some ways the most significant figure was the average price per Lot of the other items, a record-breaking £470, up by £30 on the previous highest average. A glance at some of the other items will illustrate this point.
GWR cabsides produced £15,400 for 6006; £7,500 for 5002; and £3,100 for 4912. The two headboards - "The Thames Clyde Express" and "The Merseyside Express" realised £5,900 and £4,500 respectively. Smokebox numberplates saw £3,600 for 34004; £2,400 for 70021 and £2,200 for 7020. Totems, always popular, took £3,000 for New Milton; £2,100 for Wakefield Westgate; £1,800 for the commoner Wakefield Kirkgate; £1,750 for Morecambe Euston Road; £1,650 for Winchester City; £1,300 each for Cark & Cartmel, and Porthcawl; and £1,100 for Menai Bridge.
Posters were a very strong area with the two different Southern Railway posters of Waterloo Station realising £3,000 and £2,500 each. Worksplates too saw very strong bidding with the LNER engraved example from "William Whitelaw" making £4,800; a Chapman & Furneaux of 1898 £2,700; an early Robert Stephenson of 1898 £2,100; a Beyer Peacock 'splasher' plate of 1882 £1,850; a Gorton example of 1952 from the electric "Jason" £1,700; a worksplate from the preserved "Henry Oakley" £1,550; a GNR of 1897 £1,450; another of 1922 £1,700; a Neilson of 1894 £1,200, and a Dubs of 1897 £1,050.
A platform-ticket machine made £2,700; a London & Birmingham Railway tipstaff £2,200; a M & GN water fountain £1,600; a Leeds High Level Railway bridgeplate £1,100; and a mirror made to coincide with the launch of the 'Coronation Scot' £1,050.
The sale made a record-breaking £381,712 with only 7 of the 550 Lots remaining unsold (1.2%).
