For many the newly streamlined LMSR locomotive Duchess of Hamilton, about to star in a new exhibition at the National Railway Museum, York, represents the glory days of steam. As the storm clouds of war began to gather across Europe, steam was enjoying a golden age in 1930s Britain.
London North Eastern Railway (LNER) ran the east coast main line between Kings Cross and Edinburgh, with its famous flagship express train The Flying Scotsman. Its arch-rival was the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSR) which operated the west coast main line from Euston to Glasgow with its top performing service, the Royal Scot.
The top business men in the country had to travel frequently between the capital and the North, so both companies had to prove themselves to be the finest railway in the world to get their share of this influential marketplace.
From 1896, right through the formation of the Big Four by the Government in 1923 and beyond, LMSR and LNER and their predecessor companies had agreements not to compete on speed for the Scottish run. Both trains took a leisurely 8 hours 15 minutes to cover the 400 miles. However, in the early thirties the two companies realised that road travel was beginning to threaten the railways' monopoly on long distance journeys. LMSR and LNER acknowledged they had to invest in speed in order to stay ahead and abandoned their earlier agreement. The gloves came well and truly off and an epic duel for the speed crown began in 1932.
The duel would be led by two figures – Sir Nigel Gresley, chief mechanical engineer for LNER and his LMSR counterpart, Sir William Stanier.
Although LMSR sat at the top of the railway tree, running over 9,620 route miles and employing 233,000, it had many problems inherited from its constituent companies, the main one being the small locomotives favoured by the Midland Railway.
When Stanier was appointed as Chief Mechanical Engineer in 1931, LMSR locomotives still tended to be underpowered. The former Great Western stalwart soon made a persuasive case for a new passenger express locomotive which would be the answer to everyone’s prayers. His brief was simple – a machine that could run non-stop between London and Glasgow, improving journey times and saving money.
His first attempt at creating a super-machine, the ‘Princess Royal’ class ruled the route until 1937.
However Stanier and his designers were soon forced back to the drawing board when LNER and Gresley laid down the gauntlet in 1935 with a new breed of super sleek, super speedy locomotives – the A4 Pacifics.
Well before Mallard became the fastest locomotive of all time, the A4 Pacifics swept away the competition and made the LNER’s Silver Jubilee service the pinnacle of railway travel. They were fast and looked fast. On 29 September 1935, one of the locomotives, Silver Link, made its inaugural journey from Kings Cross station to Edinburgh. It reached 112 mph, breaking all previous records.
LNER journey times were slashed and there was a sense of style and glamour about the Silver Jubilee that was winning business. By comparison the LMSR looked old-fashioned and slow.
LMSR were under intense pressure to retaliate and in 1936 the decision was taken to run a new flagship train between London and Glasgow called the Coronation Scot. This was named to celebrate the coronation of King George VI in 1937 and, to run such a high profile service, the LMSR needed to develop a new express engine that would be more powerful and more reliable than anything currently on the rails.
Stanier and his team, chief draftsman Tom Coleman, Stanier's personal assistant Robert Riddles and Crewe works manager Roland Bond, went back to the drawing board to devise the Princess Coronation class locomotive. The Coronations differed from their predecessors, by having bigger boilers and larger driving wheels.
However, keeping ahead of the opposition was not just down to speed. Style and luxury were also key factors when trying to impress the movers and shakers of the age. Even the names of the locomotives and services at LMSR imparted a sense of sumptuousness with their royal connotations.
Art Deco was a popular international art design movement from 1925 until 1939, affecting all spheres of society, from art to architecture. A parallel movement within Art Deco, Streamline Moderne was influenced by the modern aerodynamic designs emerging from a variety of fields, including aviation.
Part of the LNER A4s’ appeal was their fashionable appearance. Gresley had paid homage to the 1930s passion for Art Deco with his sleek outer casing and so his new locomotive was seen as elegant, glamorous, functional, and modern, along with the service it hauled. LMSR had to respond to the appetite for streamlining with the Princess Coronation or risk looking behind with the times.
Back in 1931, LMSR had commissioned research into streamlining, but Stanier wasn’t convinced of its usefulness, having visited the US and Germany to study it first hand.
However, he was soon overruled by the marketing team, who realised the importance of image with regards to commercial success. Thanks to the overwhelming need for positive publicity, Stanier and his team were then forced to design the decorative streamlined casing which became an icon of the era.
With a typical no-nonsense attitude, Stanier is supposed to have said: “I have decided it is better to please a fool than tease him; they can have their bloody streamliners if they want them but we will build five proper ones as well.”
If LNER’s A4s were the sports car of their day, the Princess Coronations were the larger and more luxurious muscle car. The first Princess Coronation Class locomotive, Coronation, was completed at Crewe on 1 June 1937 – an Art Deco vision of curving silver stripes against a blue background.
On 29 June 1937, waved off by staff involved in her construction, Coronation made its inaugural run, reaching 114 mph. LMSR had finally entered the competition – and in fine style. The way was paved for Coronation’s successors including the most famous of them all in latter years, the maroon and gold Duchess of Hamilton.
The Coronation Scot service reached unparalleled levels of luxury, not only were the locomotives visually stunning with their rounded bodies and metallic Art Deco stripes, the carriages also were an Art Deco fan’s dream.
Different timbers were used in each carriage, varying from English oak to Australian maple and walnut. Furnishings and trimmings were blue, green and brown, each train being completed in one colour. The floors were covered with Wilton carpeting. Fitting in with the Art Deco themes were the metal fittings, finished satin matt chrome in the first-class carriages, and oxidised Venetian bronze in the third-class.
Each nine-coach train seated 82 first and 150 third-class passengers, with a firm emphasis on dining with two kitchen cars included in the make-up of each complete set.
From its launch on 5 July 1937, the Coronation Scot ran five days a week and proved extremely punctual. It was a worthy response to the LNER’s challenge and spectators lined the platforms at Euston and Glasgow to watch the new sinuous streamliners. -- www.nrm.org.uk
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