The Duchess: Helping style an era

By Catherine Farrell
National Railway Museum

The streamlined locomotives were visually stunning with their rounded bodies and metallic Art Deco stripes

London North Eastern Railway (LNER) ran the east coast main line between Kings Cross and Edinburgh, with its famous flagship express train The Flying Scotsman.

Its arch rival was the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSR) which operated the west coast main line from Euston to Glasgow with its top performing service, the Royal Scot.

From 1896, the train companies had agreements not to compete on speed for the Scottish run. However, in the early thirties the two companies realised that road travel was threatening them. They had to invest in speed in order to stay ahead and abandoned their earlier agreement.

The gloves came off and an epic duel for the speed crown began in 1932 led by two figures - Sir Nigel Gresley, chief mechanical engineer for LNER and his LMSR counterpart, Sir William Stanier.

When Stanier was appointed as Chief Mechanical Engineer in 1931, LMSR locomotives were underpowered. He soon made a persuasive case for a new passenger express locomotive. His brief was simple - a machine that could run non-stop between London and Glasgow, improving journey times and saving money.

STREAMLINED: STYLING AN ERA The Duchess of Hamilton is the star of an exhibition at the National Railway Museum. The exhibition explores the links between 1930s society, engineering and design. The museum is open 10am - 6pm daily. National Railway Museum

His first attempt at creating a super-machine, the 'Princess Royal' class, ruled the route until 1937.

However Stanier and his designers were forced back to the drawing board when LNER and Gresley laid down the gauntlet in 1935 with a new breed of super sleek, super speedy locomotives - the A4 Pacifics. LNER journey times were slashed and, by comparison, the LMSR looked old-fashioned and slow.

LMSR were under intense pressure to retaliate and, in 1936, the decision was taken to run a new flagship train between London and Glasgow called the Coronation Scot, named to celebrate the coronation of King George VI in 1937. Stanier and his team devised the Princess Coronation class locomotive. However, keeping ahead of the opposition was not just down to speed; style and luxury were also key.

Art Deco was a popular international art design movement from 1925 until 1939. A parallel movement within Art Deco, Streamline Moderne, was influenced by the modern aerodynamic designs.

The first Princess Coronation Class locomotive, Coronation, was completed at Crewe on 1 June 1937 - an Art Deco vision of curving silver stripes against a blue background.

On 29 June 1937, Coronation made its inaugural run, reaching 114 mph. LMSR had finally entered the competition - and in fine style.

The Coronation Scot service reached unparalleled levels of luxury, not only were the locomotives visually stunning with their rounded bodies and metallic Art Deco stripes, the carriages also were an Art Deco fan's dream.

The luxurious 1930s interior of the "Coronation Scot".

Streamlined stardom

In 1939, No. 6229 Duchess of Hamilton became the most famous Princess Coronation of all time when she was shipped to America to take part in the New York World's Fair.

The 1939-40 Fair at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park was Streamline Moderne's finest hour. Here, the 'World of Tomorrow' showcased the cars, kitchens and cities of the future, along with a robot and a remarkable new device called the television. Everything was streamlined, from the Chrysler Airflow car, to radios and fridges.

To wow the world, the LMSR came up with a new maroon and gold colour scheme. Seven coaches and a first class sleeping car were painted Crimson Lake with gold speed lines and sent across with the matching Duchess of Hamilton at the head, complete with the bell and electric headlight that were mandatory on the American railroads.

When war broke out in 1939, it spelled the end of the line for the glamorous streamlined trains.

Instead of coming home to a hero's welcome after the success of the World's Fair, Duchess of Hamilton was stranded in the US, eventually returning in 1942 to a very different Britain from the one she'd left behind.

She was painted black, and some years later her now out-of-date decorative casing was removed - she became a functional workhorse for harsher times.

After the war, the process of nationalisation and the advent of diesel and electric technology gradually put an end to the age of steam. The streamliners had had their day and many ended up on the scrap heap.

Streamlining returns

Duchess of Hamilton alongside a 1934 Chrysler Airflow car

In 1964 Sir Billy Butlin saved two of the Princess Coronation class locomotives, Duchess of Sutherland and Duchess of Hamilton, by using them as children's climbing frames and activity areas for his holiday parks.

In 1976 the NRM started a 20 year loan agreement with Butlins which then turned into the full purchase of Duchess of Hamilton in 1987.

The main significance of the Princess Coronations lay in their Art Deco streamlining and to tell the story of the quest for style and speed the NRM wanted to show the public the spectacle that was the LMSR streamliner.

The decision was made to re-streamline the Duchess of Hamilton at Tyseley Locomotive Works in Birmingham. She can now be seen in all her streamlined glory at the National Railway Museum in York.