Yesteryear Collection - 1903 Duke of Connaught Locomotive

This class was the top line express locomotive of the Great Western Railway and their work really became spectacular on the ocean mail specials from Plymouth.
On May 9th 1903 the "City of Truro" with a load of five vans weighing 148 tons covered the journey from Plymouth to Bristol, a distance of 128 miles in 120 minutes 12 seconds, an average speed of 64 m.p.h. During this trip a speed of 102 m.p.h. was attained.
At Bristol the "Duke of Connaught" took over with four vans weighing 120 tons and completed the journey to London, a distance of 118½ miles in 99 minutes 46 seconds at an average speed of 71½ m.p.h. Even today such running would be remarkable.
The "Duke of Connaught" No.3065 built in 1897 was one of a class of eighty numbered 3001 - 3080, built between 1891 and 1899.

The (Y14-1) 1903 Duke of Connaught Locomotive joined the range in 1959.

Livery: (Transfer)
'DUKE OF CONNAUGHT' in yellow on red panel above both wheel arches.

Variations/Rarities: The tiny Duke of Connaught locomotive was in the MOY range for the year of 1959 only. It is always dark green with a brown chassis, smoke stack and chimney. Early ones had a gold-painted sandbox next to the big driving wheel arch, this was later left brown. The last releases had a silver smokebox door (boiler door), most of them are gold.
Early models are easily recognised in that they have a brown rear baseplate rivet and also had separate wheels free running fitted to steel axles. Later the wheels were cast in pairs, including the axle and were only capable of rotating together. These later models had a green rear baseplate rivet.
The original baseplate was complete (Type A) but later a hole was added (Type B) which allowed the model to be attached to various giftware items.(Wade ceramic ashtray)

Values on the whole are fairly modest. The ones to look for is the first run with gold trim to the walkway boxes. The version that used the giftware baseplate and the one with silver smokebox door are all hard to find and get a fair premium..


1903 Duke of Connaught Locomotive	Type B baseplate had a hole added which allowed the model to be attached to various giftware items	Sandbox alongside the large wheel arch is separate from the arch or part of the arch	Gold or Silver Boiler Door	Gold Axle Box Covers & Condenser Dome

Information as from "The Yesteryear Book 1956-2002"
Issue	Year of Release	Colour	Rear Rivet Colour	Small Wheels	Driving Wheels	Combined Wheels & Axles	Wheel Cover/Sand Box	Walkway Boxes Trim	Axle Box Covers & Condenser Dome	Boiler Door	Baseplate Type	Baseplate	Rarity	Box
1	1959	Dark green body, dark brown chassis	Brown	Brown 12 spoke	Brown 16 spoke	No	Gap, Type 1	Gold	Gold	Gold	Type A	LESNEY ENGLAND	D	B
2		Dark green body, dark brown chassis	Brown	Brown 12 spoke	Brown 16 spoke	No	Gap, Type 1	None	Gold	Gold	Type B	LESNEY ENGLAND	S	B/C
3		Dark green body, dark brown chassis	Brown	Brown 12 spoke	Brown 16 spoke	No	Gap, Type 1	None	Gold	Gold	Type A	LESNEY ENGLAND		B/C
4		Dark green body, dark brown chassis	Brown	Brown 12 spoke	Brown 16 spoke	No	No gap, Type 2	None	Gold	Gold	Type A	LESNEY ENGLAND		C/D1
5		Dark green body, dark brown chassis	Green	Brown 12 spoke	Brown 16 spoke	Yes	No gap, Type 2	None	Gold	Gold	Type A	LESNEY ENGLAND		C/D1
6	1964	Dark green body, dark brown chassis	Green	Brown 12 spoke	Brown 16 spoke	Yes	No gap, Type 2	None	Gold	Silver	Type A	LESNEY ENGLAND	R	D1
Rarity: D - Difficult; S - Scarce; R - Rare; VR - Very Rare; ER - Extremely Rare
Box: B - Blue number on a white circle on end flap; C - Red number and white lettering on end flap; D1 - Plain yellow background to front panel illustration