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LMS Rebuilt Royal Scot Class No.46115 ‘Scots Guardsman’ climbs Whiteball Bank with ‘The Royal Duchy’ from Bristol Temple Meads to Par on the 20th August 2023.

‘The Royal Duchy’ is a regular summer steam charter organised by The Railway Touring Company. This trip in August 2023 marked the first Rebuilt Royal Scot class to take on the Devon Banks.

Locomotive history:

Built by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow in 1927, LMS Royal Scot Class No.6115 Scots Guardsman was one of Sir Henry Fowler’s prestigious express passenger locomotives. Named after the Scots Guards in 1928, it became one of the first Royal Scots to receive the distinctive curved smoke deflectors and was rebuilt in 1947 with a Stanier-designed taper boiler, improving its performance and reliability. Renumbered 46115 by British Railways in 1948, it became the final Royal Scot Class locomotive in service, being withdrawn from Carlisle Kingmoor in 1965.
Purchased for preservation, ‘Scots Guardsman‘ initially arrived at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway before moving to the Dinting Railway Centre, where restoration was completed. Returning to main line operation in 2008, it has since become one of Britain’s most recognisable steam locomotives, regularly hauling railtours including services over the Settle & Carlisle Railway. Its survival represents the preservation of one of the LMS’s most iconic express passenger designs.