Royal Scot

1927 · LMS Class 6100 · Work 3 of 1,871

Royal Scot, 1927, LMS Class 6100

The Royal Scot locomotive at the head of the royal train under the glazed arch of Euston station, carriage roofs receding, station staff standing back along the platform edge.

What it was used for
LMS express work between London and Glasgow — and, in 1933, a promotional tour of some 11,200 miles across North America to the Chicago World's Fair.
What was new
What travelled to America was not the machine but the name. The engine that went was 6152 *The King's Dragoon Guardsman*, renumbered and renamed as 6100 *Royal Scot*. The identities were never swapped back: the preserved *Royal Scot* is 6152, and the locomotive that received the name in 1927 ended its life numbered 6152. For a collection that insists on evidence, this is the most instructive entry in the chapter — the famous engine is not the one everybody means.