Category:Locomotive 4498 Sir Nigel Gresley
The streamlined "A4 Class" of express locomotives (which entered into service in 1935) was designed by Sir Nigel Gresley after his experience of travelling on the streamlined Flying Hamburger train in Germany impressed on him the possibilities and advantages offered by streamlining.
A4 locomotive number 4498 was the one hundredth Gresley steam locomotive built, and tocommemorate the fact, was named after its designer.
Modelling
When the A4 locomotives first appeared, the early locos were silver to match the "Silver Jubilee" train, and toymakers were eager to model the silver A4 locomotive "Silver Link".
As further A4's were built that were not destined for the "silver" train, in blue, toymakers switched from modelling Silver Link to 4498 Sir Nigel Gresley", and the majority of blue A4 toy and model locomotives produced before WW2 were of 4498.
This may puzzle onlookers who grew up after WW2, and who might have expected the "famous" blue A4 loco of the time to be Mallard ... however, Mallard was not expected to be a famous loco when she was built, and only became famous after her world-record-breaking run.
The sudden celebrity of Mallard rather caught toymakers by surprise, and since Gresley had the original single-chimney A4 configuration, and Mallard had been built with the newer double-chimney (which then started being retrofitted to A4's), toy and modelmakers couldn't update their streamlined locos to turn them into "Mallards" simply by changing the name – they had to re-tool.
As a result, most toy and modelmaking companies didn't have a Mallard model until after World War Two, and most of the blue LNER streamliner models stayed marked as either "Sir Nigel Gresley", or as one of the "silvers".
Preservation
The real "Sir Nigel Gresley" locomotive is preserved by The Sir Nigel Gresley Locomotive Preservation Trust Ltd., which used to be known as the "A4 Preservation Society", and "The A4 Locomotive Society Ltd"
External links
Pages in category ‘Locomotive 4498 Sir Nigel Gresley’
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Media in category ‘Locomotive 4498 Sir Nigel Gresley’
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Hornby-Dublo box lid artwork, 1938.jpg 800 × 260; 133 KB
Sir Nigel Gresley locomotive LNER 4498, Hornby Dublo EDP1 (1938 brochure).jpg 2,242 × 884; 510 KB
Streamlined Passenger Train Set, Hornby Dublo EDP1 - DP1 (1939 HBot).jpg 2,703 × 1,863; 525 KB
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