"Coronation Scot" exhibition, November 2012

The Coronation Scot bullet-train (1937-1939) was arguably the finest steam train that Britain ever built, and is a critical part of Britains's railway heritage.

However, the run of the blue-and-silver “streak” was cruelly cut short by the onset of World War Two, and the prototype red-and-gold second-generation “luxury” version of the train, which was proudly sent to the US for a promotional tour, was left stranded on the wrong side of the Atlantic when war broke out and never got to go into service on UK track.

With the onset of war, the train was withdrawn, streamlining on all the locomotives was stripped, the “stripped” loco class was renamed the “Duchess” Class, and the memory of the train faded from history.

 

2012 is the train’s 75^th anniversary, and the Museum is putting together a collection of Coronation Scot artefacts and memorabilia, along with some of the greatest Coronation Scot and Coronation Class locomotive models ever made.

We’ll be launching the exhibition with a special "Coronation Scot" Train Running Day on November 10th, where we’ll be unveiling our 1930s Bassett-Lowke Coronation 6220 loco pulling a complete set of nine B-L carriages, on our 1930’s layout, forming a train that’s around thirteen feet long.

Since none of the blue Coronations or their carriages exist any more, this is probably the closest you’ll ever get to seeing the real thing.