Britannia Price: $299.99   Canadian RRP: $316.99   UK RRP: £219.99

..............................

The demands of maintaining the streamlined form of the Princess Coronation Class exceeded the cost savings to the LMS in coal and in October 1945 the decision was taken to remove the streamlining. This process (defrocking as the fitters called it) began with 6235 City of Birmingham in April 1946 and because the smokeboxes were angled down between the chimney and door to accommodate the sweep of the streamlined casing, they retained this look once the casing was removed. Eventually the raked smokeboxes were replaced with conventional smokeboxes, so that by late 1958 the majority of the fleet showed a similar appearance, although all the defrocked locomotives had the split platform ‘utility’ front end.

Withdrawal of the class commenced in December 1962 and by October 1964 all thirty eight had been withdrawn. Fortunately, three locomotives were saved for preservation; 6229 Duchess of Hamilton, 6233 Duchess of Sutherland and 6235 City of Birmingham.46235 City of Birmingham was built with streamlining at Crewe and entered traffic there on July 1, 1939, finally being withdrawn from service in 1964. 46235 was prepared by British Railways for preservation and following storage at Nuneaton MPD, moved to the Birmingham Museum of Science and Industry, which was built around the locomotive. After closure of that museum, City of Birmingham was moved to Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum in 1997.