Talk:LNER Class A4 4489 Dominion of Canada

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I think we need a photograph of this locomotive on this page. Anyone out there been to Montreal and taken a nice, recent photograph? Steel city ady 15:53, 6 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Will this photo of the "Dominion of Canada" taken at Saint Constant suffice? Petersent (talk) 00:31, 14 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Bell[edit]

If any one knows why the locomotive has a bell, is there any chance of an explanation in the article? Op47 (talk) 16:56, 4 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Unusually (I think uniquely) this bell was worn in UK service, not just collected during a tour of North America.
The loco was built as Woodcock. In 1937, part of the coronation of George VI celebrations was the LNER's Coronation express service. This was hauled by new-build A4s with garter blue livery and stainless trim. Several A4s were renamed with names to commemorate the Commonwealth nations - this was a relatively new concept at the time, having only been formed a few years earlier as the old British Empire began to reorganise. 4489 only ran for a month or so before renaming, The new Dominions (Two Dominions, one Union, one Commonwealth and an Empire) were quite positive about these changes at the time (India less so) and joined in the celebrations. The CPR donated a chime whistle to this project, and after a few years the bell to go with it.
The bell lasted under the '50s BR rebuilds, when a double chimney was fitted. With no space available, the bell was removed and stored. In the '60s she was donated to the Canadian museum and the bell went overseas too. As she was never restored in Canada (as had been planned) and the chimney was still a double, there was nowhere to put the bell.
Supposedly she survived withdrawal from BR by the narrowest of margins. Gresley pacifics, being three cylindered, were difficult to tow as scrap as the middle cylinder connecting rod needed to be dropped first. This was impossible in situ and had to be done over a pit - or else with a gas axe. By some mix up this hadn't been done immediately and she sat for too long to be moved again without serious fitter attention. So she sat for even longer and longer (there was no shortage of easier steam locos to be shipped off first), getting overgrown by brambles in some Rev Awdry fashion. She even outlived Darlington shed itself. One day platelayers arrived to start lifting the old metals of the steam shed, only to find there was a gurt hefty A4 left sat on them, hiding in the bushes! While the matter was decided between whether to haul it out or to chop in situ, someone thought to palm it off on the Canadians instead. On the way to the docks she stopped at Crewe to have a few missing bits re-attached from other scrapped A4s and a repaint with an inappropriate can of brunswick green that happened to be open at the time. Which is about as far as the Candians ever got with restoration for the next 40 years. Only with the big reunion restoration in the UK (which needed a lot of body filler and T cut) the chimney went back to a single and the bell was refitted. Andy Dingley (talk) 17:34, 4 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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