Ex-London & North Western Railway Bowen Cooke 'Prince of Wales' class 4-6-0 No. 25625 'Robert L. Stevenson'. Built at Crewe in December 1913 as L&NWR No. 2283 and withdrawn in December 1936.

Now with its duplicate list number to avoid clashing with a new Stanier 'Jubilee', 25625 sits quietly at the south end of Rugby station probably witing for a path onto shed or between duties in May 1934. I always think it curious, with the much later exception of eleven BR 'Britannias', that the LMS, the GWR or the LNER saw fit to name a class after great British literary or scientific figures. Obscure antelopes and endless halls were decidedly unimaginative methinks...

© Les Hanson-David Hanson Archive