Have you ever wondered the history of the train nameplate situated above the players tunnel at Carrow Road? Here is what I've found out about it.
It came off a LNER (London North Eastern Railway) Locomotive No.2859 called Norwich City. This was a B17/4 Sandringham class 4-6-0 built in Darlington in June 1936 and served until it was taken out of service in March 1960. The nameplate was then presented to Norwich City Football Club. The nameplates of the other "Football Club" Locomotives were presented to the respective clubs when they were taken out of service.
The three cylinder B17 'Sandringham' locomotives were built for use on the Great Eastern section of the LNER to satisfy the demand for a modern powerful locomotive with a light axle load. The first ones appeared in 1928 after much debate about the design.
The nameplates carried the football clubs name with the splasher painted in the club colours, either side of a cast brass football.
Two members of the class (2859/70) were streamlined for publicity purposes to work the 'East Anglian' between Liverpool Street and Norwich. These became B17/5's and were renamed East Anglian and City of London.
The class survived up to 1960, when the last was withdrawn. They often stood in for more modern trains when these developed problems.
None were preserved.
The "Football Club" locomotives I have found are the following:
Locomotives built by the LNER at Darlington Works in 1936
2848 Arsenal
2849 Sheffield United
2850 Grimsby Town
2851 Derby County
2852 Darlington
2853 Huddersfield Town
2854 Sunderland
2855 Middlesbrough
2856 Leeds United
2857 Doncaster Rovers
2858 Newcastle United
2859 Norwich City
2860 Hull City
2861 Sheffield Wednesday
Locomotives built for the LNER by Robert Stephenson & Co. in 1937.
2862 Manchester United
2863 Everton
2864 Liverpool
2865 Leicester City
2866 Nottingham Forest
2867 Bradford (Park Avenue)
2868 Bradford City
2869 Barnsley
2870 Tottenham Hotspur
2871 Manchester City
2872 West Ham United