Rare Queen Empress Diamond Jubilee Locomotive Heads to Vectis March Auction

Few liveries in Victorian railway history turned as many heads as the one applied to L&NWR No.2054 "Queen Empress" in 1897. While all ten Greater Britain class locomotives were originally painted in the standard LNWR "Blackberry Black" livery, No.2053 "Greater Britain" and No.2054 "Queen Empress" were repainted in 1897 to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Now, a meticulously finished model of that locomotive goes under the hammer at Vectis Auctions' March 25 Model Train Auction as Lot 530.

The Vectis catalogue describes the piece as a "kit or scratch built 3-rail coarse scale L&NWR Webb Greater Britain class 2-2-2-2 No.2054 'Queen Empress' locomotive and tender," painted to a Good standard in the "special white with lavender panel edging and gold lining in honour of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897." Condition is logged as "Generally Good to Good Plus," and the listing notes two photographic images of the model in its current state. No auction estimate appears in the catalogue text, so prospective bidders will want to contact Vectis directly for guidance on expected hammer price.

The prototype behind the model is one of the more fascinating characters in LNWR history. The Greater Britain class was a class of ten 2-2-2-2 steam locomotives designed for express passenger work by F. W. Webb. Built to work the West Coast Expresses, they were three-cylinder compounds: the two outside high-pressure cylinders drove the trailing drivers via Howe-Stephenson valve gear, while the one inside low-pressure cylinder drove the leading drivers via slip eccentric. The class is particularly celebrated for the "elaborate and expensive liveries" applied to Nos. 2053 "Greater Britain" in scarlet and 2054 "Queen Empress" in white lined lilac or lavender, to mark Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in June 1897. No.2054 "Queen Empress" was built in 1892 by Crewe Works and withdrawn in 1906.

The Diamond Jubilee was officially celebrated on 22 June 1897 to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession. For the LNWR, the occasion called for something more than a commemorative poster: two of its most prominent express locomotives were stripped of their standard black and repainted in contrasting celebratory schemes. The white and lavender finish on "Queen Empress" stood apart even in an era when railway liveries were elaborate by modern standards, and its rarity as a modelling subject makes Lot 530 an unusual find in a mainstream train auction.

As Vectis' site policy makes clear, "mechanisms have not been tested unless otherwise stated in the lot description," and no such statement appears in the Lot 530 text. The model is therefore being sold as a collector's display piece rather than a runner, which is consistent with the coarse-scale, 3-rail construction referenced in the catalogue. The Vectis navigation also labels the piece as a "scratchbuilt O gauge locomotive & tender," though the lot description itself uses "3-rail coarse scale" throughout. Buyers seeking precise gauge clarification before bidding should direct that question to Vectis ahead of the sale.

Vectis is the largest specialist collectables auction house in the world, processing over 70,000 lots per year, with more than 50 members of staff handling packing and shipping worldwide. The auction house is based on Fleck Way in Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees, and can be reached at (+44) 01642 750 616 or admin@vectis.co.uk. Enquiries about auctioning a collection go to collections@vectis.co.uk, while postage and packing questions are handled at dispatch@vectis.co.uk.

The sale goes live March 25. With a prototype this historically specific and a livery this rarely modelled, Lot 530 is likely to attract attention well beyond the usual coarse-scale crowd.