Steam locomotive and tender, No 46229 'Duchess of Hamilton', 8P Coronation class, 4-6-2, London Midland & Scottish Railway, designed by William Stanier, built at Crewe in 1938. Length over buffers: 73' 10 1/4"; width 9' 3"; height 12' 9'; weight: 105 tons; 5 cwt; driving wheel diameter 6 feet, 9 inches (total weight according to H C Casserley 161 tonnes 12 cwt).
One of the largest and most powerful express passenger locomotives used in Britain, Duchess of Hamilton was one of thirty-eight coronation class locomotives built by London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) in 1938.
No. 6229 became the most celebrated of the class after being shipped to America and exhibited at the 1939 New York World’s Fair as the best example of British engineering and style. During its American tour a mandatory headlight and bell were fitted.
After war broke out in 1939, Duchess of Hamilton was stranded in America; it eventually returned in 1942 and was put into black wartime livery, by 1947 its streamlined casing was removed. Withdrawn from service in 1964, Duchess was saved from the scrapyard by Sir Billy Butlin, who installed the locomotive as a children’s playground exhibit in his Minehead holiday camp.
The Friends of the National Railway Museum acquired the locomotive in 1976; it was then purchased for the museum in 1987. 6229 ran on the mainline between 1980-85 and 1989-96 and was finally withdrawn from duty in 1996, when the boiler ticket expired. In 2009 Duchess of Hamilton was re-streamlined at Tyseley Locomotive Works in Birmingham.