Coronation locomotive 6220 (Bassett-Lowke)

Star Exhibit
Coronation locomotive 6220 (Bassett-Lowke) The Museum's Bassett-Lowke Coronation 6220, on Train Running Day Spring 2012 (i)
location:
Arch Three , Area 1 1930s Model Railway Layout

= Coronation Scot at Brighton Toy and Model Museum =
This exhibit was on display between November 2012 and early 2013

Contemporary Bassett-Lowke catalogue from around 1937/38. The same image was re-colorised to red and yellow for the version of the catalogue released in 1939

Coronation Scot Exhibition
the locomotives
trains: 1937 - 1939 - 1940
greatest? - streamlining - advertising - trivia - models and kits

A sleek, futuristic, gauge 0 model of the streamlined, bullet-nosed 4-6-2 "Pacific" LMS "Coronation" locomotive 6220 in "coronation blue" with silver lining, built by Bassett-Lowke in the 1930s.

Manufacture

Bassett-Lowke advert in Meccano Magazine, 1939, showing the model. Note that the "LMS" letters have been blocked out

Bassett-Lowke produced their gauge 0 model of Coronation 6220 in around 1937/38 (we think it might even be on the cover of the '38 catalogue), and proudly used the model in their advertising (see example above).

These locomotive models were handmade and hand-finished and handpainted including all the lettering. They also had factory numbers stamped into or scratched into their undersides, presumably so that the builders could work on a few items at a time, and not confuse which parts had been hand-tailored to fit which locos.

The Museum's Director, Chris Littledale, has restored a number of examples, and so far the highest number encountered has been "twenty-five", which suggests that perhaps only around thirty were made.

The original locomotive

This class of locomotive was known as "Coronation" class The first batch of Coronation Class locomotives was designed to haul the Coronation Scot train, and their blue and silver lining ran along the full length of the train.

Number 6220 "Coronation" was built in 1937.

See also:

• Coronation Scot
• Duchess of Gloucester locomotive (gauge 0)
• Train Running Day

External links

• LMS Streamliners (locos-in-profile.co.uk)
• 1937 film of the 6220 Coronation being built at Crewe, and rolled out.