Auction Catalogue: Great Central Railwayana, 3 June 2017
| Lot 256 | A nameplate, TIMOUR, carried first by a Great Western Railway Broad Gauge Iron Duke Class 8ft single built at Swindon in August 1849 and which ceased work in November 1871, and secondly by an Iron Duke Renewal or Rover Class 4-2-2 8ft single built at Swindon in July 1873. The later engine worked between London, Swindon and Bristol and from 1876 to Newton Abbot. It remained in service until the abolition of the Broad Gauge was undertaken in May 1892 when 177 miles of track between Exeter and Penzance were altered over one weekend by over 4,000 men. The name is that of a Mongol Chief (1335-1405) who conquered much of Eastern Europe and Asia. The plate is 58" long. It was purchased from the GWR by Mr D. L. Evans for £2 2s in 1892 (the other side not recorded as sold, and not surviving.) A letter from Swindon Works to a member of the Evans family, dated 1959, answering an enquiry about the history of the plate is sold with this lot. The plate has been in the ownership of the same family for 125 years. £15000-25000 |
| This lot sold for £19000. |
