I'm a late starter in the railwayana collecting game. Living overseas and moving frequently often without any chance to take more of my possessions than I could carry with me, I've not collected a lot of railway ephemera. I've also at times been disturbed by the disappearance of plates from working locos most notably on the Zhanhe logging line in China between my two visits and I've wondered about the ethics of it all. However, these days, I'm more settled in the UK and more able to collect the bits of railwayana that take my fancy. However, you will no doubt have seen the prices that very desirable British railwayana sells for - I'm thinking especially about nameplates from BR locos and in order to have my own Raby Castle nameplate I had to ask Newton Replicas to make me a replica plate. In the current economic downtown, I'm interested in expanding my collection but equally, I would be open to reasonable offers for what I currently have.
Replica nameplate and works plate from B17 2825/1625/61625 4-6-0 loco
Part of the evidence that was used to recreate the nameplate. The lining on the splasher and the splasher itself look a bit different but otherwise it's a decent job.
A recent acquisition off Cirebon shed based D52 loco. These 1950s Krupp locos had 6 number plates (3 on the loco and 3 on the tender) so more plates off this loco may survive.
I'm still looking for a photo of D52002 but here are two pics of D52099 in Taman Mini museum Jakarta showing 2 places where the number plates were attached. Now I need a suitable Krupp plate to go with the number plate.
Something I won in a raffle! On a 1980s TEFS tour of Negros sugar mills in the Philippines, I won this plate off Ma Ao sugar mill No. 5 (an Alco 2-6-0). The loco was derelict by that point and we had had the last run with the only working loco (No. 4). I believe some of these locos were moved to La Carlota but I'm not sure if they did any further work.
The loco as seen in Small & Lanham, 'Philippine Sugar Cane Railroads', Charles S Small, Honolulu, 1990 with the plate in place on the smoke box below the balloon smokestack.
I bid for 40 or so railway letterhead on eBay and two of these were sent by John Aspinall, one of the greats of the Pre-Grouping British railways on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway which became part of the LNWR and then the LMS system. I've tried to display them in a way that adds to the two letterheads. The experts are not convinced that Aspinall signed the letter on the left himself or that any of the letter is in his own hand but it could be.
I've also been investing in railroad bonds.
Some share certificates from the railway boom years include delightful vignettes of early loco classes. Both the railway above and the one below really did exist (Wikipedia is a good reference for old railways). I would like to expand my collection to include railways in countries that I have visited.
Email comments to:
