As you probably know, the GWR has won the prestigious Heritage Railway Association Annual Award. The prize, which will be exhibited at Toddington during the 2004 season, is a magnificent headboard which once adorned the Royal Train. The headboard is owned by the National Railway Museum.

The locomotive displaying the headboard is London Brighton & South Coast Railway Stroudley ’B’ class 0-4-2 no. 214 ’Gladstone’ which was built in 1882 and was withdrawn in 1926, having covered over 1.3 million miles. This was the first locomotive to be preserved by a private body, namely the Stephenson Locomotive Society. No. 214 can be seen at the National Railway Museum, where the photograph was taken.

Photograph courtesy of and copyright Bruce Nathan, Stephenson Locomotive Society.