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6233 Duchess of Sutherland
LMS Princess Coronation Class 4-6-2 Pacific
'There are not enough superlatives in the English language
to describe a Princess Coronation locomotive in full cry.
We shall never see their like again'.
O.S. Nock
When first taking his role as the new Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London, Midland & Scottish Railway Company, one of William Stanier’s urgent tasks when he took office in January, 1932 was to design an express locomotive capable of working the fastest express passenger trains over the, in parts, heavily graded West Coast Route between London Euston and Glasgow. The ‘Princess Royal’ class of thirteen Pacific type 4-6-2 locomotives was the result, the first being No. 6200 “The Princess Royal,” which emerged from the Crewe shops in 1933. The class is represented in the Princess Royal Class Locomotive Trust’s collection in the West Shed by No. 46203 Princess Margaret Rose.
The remaining nine locomotives were all named after royalty or Duchesses, and all were streamlined for the sake of “press publicity and public appeal” to try to draw custom from the rival L.N.E.R. with its alternative East Coast route to Scotland. However, Stanier himself disliked the practice of concealing the impressive lines of such a beautiful locomotive underneath a streamlined casing, and resolved to build five “proper ones” as he called them, although the basic design remained the same. Thus ‘Duchess of Sutherland’ and her four sisters, all named after Scottish titles with the permission of His Majesty King George VI, were built at Crewe, emerging during July and August 1938. 6233 is the only member of the group to have survived.
Railway historian and artist Hamilton Ellis described them as having “the coincidence of aesthetic and functional beauty.” A little later a member of this batch of locomotives, No. 6234 ‘Duchess of Abercorn’ achieved an equivalent indicated horsepower output of 3350 whilst on test in February 1939, the highest figure ever recorded by a British steam locomotive.
During her busy working life for the L.M.S. 6233, like her sisters, hauled all of the fastest trains, including ‘The Royal Scot’ and the ‘The Mid-Day Scot’ between London and Glasgow, and other prestige named trains to Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham, ‘Duchess of Sutherland’ being initially allocated to the motive power depot at Camden in London. During the Second World War she was pressed into use on the very heavily loaded troop trains in addition to her express passenger role, and in 1944 ‘Duchess of Sutherland’ moved to Crewe North shed.
Originally built with a single chomney, a double chimney was fitted in 1941, and she was one of the first to be fitted smoke deflectors in LMS livery in 1946.
She first appeared in LMS Crimson Lake (non-standard with cabside gold block numerals), changing to Lined Black in 1947, Caledonian Blue in May 1950 and BR Brunswick Green in November 1952.
During October and November 1945, 6233 DUCHESS OF SUTHERLAND took part in four special test runs with a dynamometer car to compare performance of the double chimney arrangement against rebuilt Royal Scot class locomotives and one of the two specially rebuilt Jubilee class locomotives no. 5736 Phoenix.
By the time they were taken over by British Railways in 1948 the class numbered 38 in all, the penultimate one being fittingly named ‘Sir William A. Stanier, F.R.S.’ after their designer, he being the only locomotive engineer ever to be accorded that prestigious title. 6233 moved to Carlisle Upperby in 1958 and later was also allocated to Crewe North shed, and then finally to Liverpool Edge Hill shed in September 1960. She continued to give excellent service over the next 15 years until eventually, like the rest of the class which were being displaced by first diesel and then electric locomotives of the new generation in the early 1960’s, she was put into store available for work if required. All but three ran of the class more than one million miles over their working life, but ‘Duchess of Sutherland’ herself notched up over 1,650,000 miles by to the time of her eventual withdrawal on 8th February, 1964, the second highest figure achieved by a member of the class.
She was one of the lesser know Princess Coronation class locomotives being photographed professionally very infrequently.
Working Life - Restoration - Preservation
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