A LOCOMOTIVE CALLED CREDITON

CREDITON | 1948

Official British Rail photo of the naming ceremony

In 1941, the Southern Railway ordered the first batch of a new class of steam locomotive designed by its Chief Mechanical Engineer Oliver Bulleid.

The 4-6-2 Light Pacific locomotives were known as the West Country class as they were intended for use on the Southern’s routes to and west of Exeter. In addition, it was decided to name the locomotives after towns and other significant landmarks on or close to the lines they would serve.

Locomotive 21C148 was built in 1946 and, on 4 March 1948, it was named Crediton at the town’s station by Mr E C Hedger, Chairman of Crediton Urban District Council. Mr Hedger was allowed to drive the engine a short distance after the ceremony.

The railways had just been nationalised and later that year, 21C148 was given its new British Railways number 34048. Here is the locomotive's official photo as new:

The locomotive had been built with air-smoothed casing but over time, this was felt to be causing such issues that it would be best to remove the casing. This was done on 34048 Crediton in 1959.

Here it is in Bournemouth Shed in the early 1960s:

Seven years later, in 1966, it was withdrawn from service and scrapped.

A number of West Country class locomotives survived and have been preserved. Several are in operation on heritage railways, with a few occasionally running special trains on the national network too.

For more about Devon's rail heritage, visit the interpretation panels now on display in the waiting room on Platform 2 at Crediton station, plus those at Yeoford station. You can see a preview of some of the panels in this Crediton Courier article.