Several elderly L&NWR 2-4-0s were latterly allocated as 'departmental' or 'engineer' locomotives. Their principal use was to haul the district engineer's saloon for track and infrastructure inspection. Most had their original L&NWR numbers and names removed and replaced with a cabside plate reading 'Engineer Watford' (Liverpool, Bangor etc.) according to their allocation. Oddly, the former No. 2157 'Unicorn', a Webb 'Samson' class 2-4-0, seems to have been a 'spare' for these duties and received no insignia at all! Here she stands at Llandudno Station in Caernarfonshire probably in the 1910s, accompanied by her lovely saloon. It was built at Crewe in Nov. 1895 and was withdrawn in May 1923.

Steve Armitage Collection