[Trev]

...as scrapped classmates.

There is an interesting little snippet in Novembers 'Railways Illustrated' about this practice.

For instance, EE Type 1 no 20001 was to be renumbered as scrapped 20004 for the September gala at Butterley, whilst 50049 Defiance was renumbered/renamed 50012 Benbow for a trip to Scotland in June.

Does anyone have any views on this? I'm in two minds about it myself. On the one hand I can see that the owners of the locos want to maximise the revenue that they get from their charges, but then there is a part of me (probably a leftover from my spotting days!) which holds that a locos identity is fixed for all time when it's given its first number and name. I even have trouble thinking about TOPS numbering, and still think of the locos concerned in their pre-TOPS numbers.

Any views?