Railways & the RAF - Part 2
Air Force Names
There is a long tradition of naming railway locomotives in Great Britain. The main railway companies have tended to name their passenger locomotives but not the humble shunting engines. This has been left to smaller users such as power stations and coalmines.
Themes have included railway personalities, railway served locations and classical heroes. Naming high-speed Train power cars 'Top of the Pops' came much later when popular culture was thought an appropriate subject to attract public attention.
 Military names increased after the Great War, including warship and regimental names. Many companies had a 'remembrance' locomotive honouring the fallen.
In 1931the London Midland and Scottish Railway Royal Scot 4-6-0 express passenger locomotive No. 6159 became the first locomotive to carry a name associated with military aeronautics; it was named 'The Royal Air Force' and after rebuilding with a Stanier Boiler ran until November 1962 as BR 46159, being withdrawn from Willesden shed in London and scrapped at Crewe Works in February 1963. In September 2007, the BR smokebox numberplate of No.46159 was generously donated to the Royal Air Force Museum by Mr Bruce London ACIS. This item is now displayed at Hendon, accessioned as X004-6115.
Second world war patriotism caused the Great Western Railway to re-name 12 of its fast, powerful 'Castle' class locomotives after then current British Military aircraft. Nos 5071 to 5082 commemorated such aircraft as the Spitfire, Hurricane and Wellington; British Railways withdrew them by September 1964; sole survivor 5080 Defiant is owned by the Birmingham Railway Museum, Tyseley and currently on loan to the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre at Quainton Road, pending overhaul.
Tyseley 25 May 1992
Diesel and electric locomotives with names associated with the Royal Air Force include class 73 electric 'Battle of Britain 50th Anniversary', classmate 73137 Royal Observer Corps, and now withdrawn diesel electric 33035 'Spitfire'
Photos: Bill Bass
In May 1997, Virgin Trains named their High Speed Train power car No.43155 The Red Arrows in a ceremony at York station attended by members of the squadron; the same company ran a electrically hauled control trailer on the West Coast main line named '101 Squadron' until it was replaced by the current 'Pendolino' electric units.