LMS 'Coronation' Class 6247 - City of Liverpool

Built at Crewe and completed in 1943, 6247 entered traffic on the 13 September that year in the streamlined form carrying the LMS plain black livery. It never appeared in the Crimson Lake livery with the gold stripes as did 20 of the 'Duchess' and 'City' builds of the Coronation class. The first five of Stanier's 4-6-2 Pacifics entered service in 1937 in the blue and silver livery, the year of King George VI's coronation and the first locomotive of the class was named in honour of the event. The 'Coronation' name was applied to the whole class of locomotives although they are also known as 'Duchesses', "Princesses', 'Big Lizzies' or simply 'Big-Uns'!
The origin of the class came about when LMS required a streamlined express locomotive to rival the LNER's A4 streamlined Pacifics to run on the West Coast mainlines and generate similar publicity and public image as Gresley's A4's. The first five locomotives quickly gained a reputation for smooth, high performance running and it wasn't long before a further 10 were ordered by LMS. In all 38 "Coronation' locomotives were built. They hauled variously named trains such as "The Caledonian' from London to Glasgow and several London to Liverpool services such as 'The Manxman', 'The Shamrock' and the 'Empress Voyager'. The 'Irish Mail' ran from Euston to Holyhead and Coronations could also be seen in the Lake District taking the 'Lakes Express' up to Penrith.

June 1947 the streamlined casing was removed from 6247 and the tender was de-streamlined at the same time. After nationalisation 6247 became 46247. Further alterations followed, the cab windows were enlarged in 1950 and and the angled smokebox was replaced with the standard cylindrical type in September 1956. The Smith-Stone speed indicator was added in 1957 with the AWS fitted in 1959. When the locomotive first appeared without the streamlined casing it carried the lined black LMS livery until 1954 when it was repainted in British Railways green. From May 1958 until its withdrawal in May 1963 'City of Liverpool' returned to the Crimson Lake colour switching from LMS to British Railways and finally back to LMS style of lining.

This meticulously researched illustration is based on GA drawings from the NRM archive and hundreds of reference images.

Posters printed on 200gsm satin stock. Available in 3 sizes.

Every attempt is made to ensure the featured locomotive is accurate given the available references. Colours on the prints may look slightly different to their screen representations.