THEY came in their hundreds to bid for and take away train nameplates that each tell a unique story of the railway.

Collectors converged on the former Waterloo International station’s Eurostar booking hall for the charity auction of nameplates carried by Virgin Trains units during the past 10 years.

The auction raised over £106,000 for charities, including the Railway Benefit Fund.
A total of 107 nameplates and nose-end badges were snapped up by collectors, with nothing from the auction catalogue going unsold.

Top earner was ‘Charles Rennie Mackintosh’, in art deco style, which had been carried by a Class 86 electric locomotive and fetched £4,700.

But they also bid for nameplates such as ‘Driver Tom Clark OBE’, which once adorned the side of a Class 90 locomotive.

The loco was named in 2002 to mark the driver’s non-stop run in 1931 from London to Glasgow on the footplate of the London Midland and Scottish Princess Royal steam loco, ‘Princess Elizabeth’.

Then there was ‘Charles Darwin’ – whose 200th birthday anniversary is being celebrated this year – a nameplate once carried on a Virgin Super Voyager train in recognition of the famous naturalist’s work.

Other nameplates included ‘Chris Green’, who was chief executive of Virgin Trains during the building and testing of the Pendolinos, and ‘Michael Palin’, named in recognition of the work of the railway enthusiast, comedy actor, traveller and television personality.

There was also a significant interest in Voyager and Super Voyager nameplates, with ‘Devon Voyager’ fetching £2,600 and ‘Doctor Who’ going under auctioneer Ian Wright’s hammer for £2,000.

‘Pride of Toton’, from one of the former CrossCountry Class 47 diesel locomotives, raised £3,600.

The auction was organised by Virgin Trains and the Railway Benefit Fund in conjunction with Sheffield Railwayana Auction Ltd.

The money raised will go to Virgin Group’s charitable arm, Virgin Unite, and the Railway Benefit Fund.