The Golden Arrow left London Victoria at 10.00am and ran non-stop to Dover Marine, 78 miles away in a little over one and a half hours. The same engine brought the up ‘Arrow’ back to London later that day, departing Dover at the (somewhat odd) time of 6.13pm.

This photograph of the down train was taken in the Warren approaching Folkestone during the earlier period of Britannias on ‘the Arrow’ when the original short lamp irons were in use for the headcode discs. Later, these irons were lengthened, bringing the discs to a position in line with the flags which rather cluttered the view across the bottom of the smokebox.
Mechanical lubrication for the Britannias was driven by a vertical rod connecting the lubricator on each side to the valve motion as seen here behind the cylinder. The lubricators themselves were placed behind the lip of the running plate and access was enabled by removing a bolted cover; these covers were abandoned for ease of maintenance after a year or so as seen in this photograph, which therefore must have been taken in the mid rather than the early 1950s (perhaps about 1954).
The more photogenic side is the fireman’s side, shown here with the chime whistle in full view behind the smoke deflector. The driver’s side lacked a whistle and was encumbered with various sets of rodding along the length of the boiler, as well as the hefty screw reverser rod which emerged from the cab at an angle to disappear below the footplate.
Allocated to Stewarts Lane from October 1951 until the summer of 1958 William Shakespeare was a regular and routinely immaculate performer on ‘the Arrow’ but the last decade of its short existence was destined to be far less glamorous under the anything but tender care of the London Midland Region. Allocated to LMR sheds in London, Manchester, and Birmingham as well as Crewe, Stockport and Carlisle she became just another neglected and increasingly dishevelled example of her type. Withdrawn from Carlisle Kingmoor at the end of December 1967

© David P Williams Original photograph by Rev A C Cawston. A glass quarter plate negative.