LMS Jubilee No. 45596 Bahamas is set to be renamed this week to mark the 40th Anniversary of the South Atlantic conflict in the Falkland Islands.
At a ceremony on the 23rd July 2022 at the West Somerset Railway, 45596 Bahamas will be renamed to 45606 Falkland Islands.
The original locomotive was built in 1935 but was withdrawn from Carnforth (10A) in 1964 and was later scrapped in February 1965.
The new Falkland Islands nameplates have been cast from the original and will be unveiled by Richard Overall and Jim Fairfield who were both involved in the conflict.
After the unveiling, the locomotive will work its railtour back to London Paddington and it is hoped it will wear its new identity until it returns North in September.
The locomotives nameplates will then be removed and one donated to The Royal Marines Association – The Royal Marines Charity, for auction.
What do you think of this? Let us know in the comments below.
You can see 45596 Bahamas in action on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway in RailAdvent's latest DVD – click here to watch a trailer.
Note: the renaming event is subject to the lifting of the Network Rail steam ban that is currently in place
I took part in the Falklands Campaign and have only today discovered that a nameplate would be given to the Royal Marines Association for auction.
May I add that the Royal Marines were not the only until to fight in that campaign, so what makes them so special?
Why not rename for a short period. I dont see anything wrong with running a loco with a name of a former class mate. It would make my day to see 60079 “Bayardo”. The only A3 I didn’t see.
I have already suggested that for a fund raiser for the P2 new build future overhaul that she carry the identity of all the former P2 locos for a period of time and then auction the name plates.
Don’t agree with renaming. Would we rename the ” Flying Scotsman” ?? I think not.
Built as Bahamas with the only double chimney and so will always be Bahamas.
Presumably the Society will be Renamed?
its only temporary
Are they fitting a single blast pipe and chimney ? !!
I know many like this kind of exercise, but I’m a bit of a purist I’m afraid. In the world of classic cars a huge amount of effort goes into certifying the original identity of an individual vehicle even where there has been extensive re-building. For me, unless a loco has knowingly been assembled from major elements of more than one original, it has its particular identity, and should only carry one of the numbers and/or names it had when it was originally in service.
I fully support you Graeme, too much of this kind of change of name going on these days, hope they have a change of mind, where could this lead to, leave as is!!!!
Always nice to see steam locomotives carrying different name identities and numbers of those long forgotten, will be worth seeing for sure! 🙂