The Duchesses - Andrew Roden

The Duchesses tells the story of the ‘
Princess Coronation’
class of locomotives -the streamlined embodiments of raw, bulked-up muscle and formidable power that any enthusiast will tell you were the finest steam engines in Britain.

Conceived of by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway to rival the LNER’
s illustrious ‘
A4 Pacifics’
, these trains heralded in the last golden age of steam. Designed by the great William Stanier, theirs is a story of grand beginnings, a slow trajectory of decline and a recent, celebrated rebirth. Today, there are two ‘
Duchesses’
still in existence: Duchess of Hamilton and Duchess of Sutherland are now restored to their original streamlined appearance.

As The Duchesses’
beautiful cover illustration suggests, these Coronation locomotives were beautiful to behold; truly majestic feats of engineering. Andrew Roden’
s book tells the story of their time in British Railways service; the class’
decommissioning in the 1960s; the extraordinary saga of two trains’
unlikely preservation by Billy Butlin at his holiday camps; and their eventual return to steam on the main line.

The Duchesses completes a trilogy of railway books from Aurum, joining Mallard - the story of the world’
s fastest steam locomotive - and Flying Scotsman –
that of the world’
s most famous.