Talk:LNER Class A4 4488 Union of South Africa

I'm not sure how best to include it, but mention needs to be made of this engine's name history- after all, it spent a considerable number of years during appartheid renamed as "Osprey" as a political protest. The problem is of course how to handle this in a neutral manner.

Osprey during appartheid
Do you have any source for that information? It's interesting and worth putting into the article. I'm not sure I see the problem about a point of view, provided we stick to stating facts. -- Strib 02:14, 27 November 2006 (UTC)


 * From my understanding the renaming was actually as a result of anti-apartheid activists threatening to hold protests at her (are steam locomotives her?) public appearances. Does anyone have access to back issues of railway magazines from the 1980's and 1990's to confirm this? --Aclapton 16:49, 28 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Yes, steam locos are referred to (certainly in British English) as 'her', even the King Class, for example. So King George V was female!


 * OK, I asked my parents for more details (something that could be cited) and they spoke to her owner, John Cameron. Apparently she was named Osprey for the duration of the 1986 Commonwealth Games, hosted in Edinburgh that year, since she was running excursions on the (East Coast?) main line by then and her presence would have caused embarrassment. Now, how to put it into the article... -- Strib 02:09, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

So where is it now?
The locomotive has been removed from the Severn Valley Railway article, so does that mean an update is required to this one, if indeed it is no longer based at the SVR? Loganberry (Talk) 23:16, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

9th September 2015
The Union of South Africa is currently pulling the Royal Train at the re-opening the Border's Railway in Scotland, with HRH Queen Elizabeth and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh aboard. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.228.109.170 (talk) 10:35, 9 September 2015 (UTC)

New images added and copyright status
I added a few new images yesterday (13 August 2009) and in my haste forgot to add that they are my own work and I release them to public domain. the images in question are the three Barrow Hill images. Hopefully I have rectified my error. Steel city ady (talk) 07:14, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

South Africa's 2001 tour of Central Europe
I was reading in Steam Railway magazine number 259 [22nd June to 19th July 2001] and it mentioned this locomotive touring Central Europe between 9th and 22nd of September. The nations it is/was touring was Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Austria. I have looked online for details but, I have came up with nothing. I hope someone can reply back to this and help me with the details of this tour. As I am curious about it. WhippetWild (talk) 17:41, 25 March 2015 (UTC)

Name change
Until my change on January 31, 2017, the article said the name of the Union of South Africa was changed to Osprey in 1990–1991, but that statement was unsourced. I found a BBC article saying it was during the 1980s and 1990s that the name was changed, but that's a pretty vague range, especially when you consider that this picture currently in the article has the Union of South Africa nameplate and dates to the '80s. I also found a non-free Flickr image of the locomotive, dated 1990, has the Osprey nameplate. Too bad it's not freely-licensed. Anyways, more specific dates would be appreciated if anyone can find them. clpo13(talk) 22:37, 31 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Actually, the article did say the name change was during the 1980s and 1990s until this unsourced revision to just the 1990s. The specific 1990–1991 range was added here, also with no source. clpo13(talk) 22:42, 31 January 2017 (UTC)
 * I also found another image (at left) with the Osprey nameplate dated 1990. clpo13(talk) 22:45, 31 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Yes, I definitely took that photo- File:Leuchars Air Show 1990 t Locomotive 60009 Osprey.jpg- at the 1990 Leuchars Air Show. So I can say with certainty it must have been called "Osprey" at that point- if nothing more(!) Yottanesia (talk) 20:00, 11 February 2017 (UTC)

Link suggestion
In the paragraph just below the "Tenders" section that references Chimneys and Safety equipment, there is mention of the Harrow Rail Crash. Should that be made into a link to this page? Harrow_and_Wealdstone_rail_crash — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.198.85.139 (talk) 07:19, 16 June 2017 (UTC)
 * You mean ? ✅. -- Red rose64 &#x1f339; (talk) 10:02, 16 June 2017 (UTC)

Operational
I'm curious about the second sentence: It is one of six surviving Gresley A4s, currently operational and mainline certified. < I thought fewer than that were operational (having been to the Great Gathering, when Dominion of Canada and Dwight Eisenhower were shipped across the Atlantic - I thought they said that those 2 were just cosmetically restored, not made operational? Should this line be amended: It is one of six surviving Gresley A4s, one of only X (3?) that are currently operational and mainline certified. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.178.36.49 (talk) 20:36, 20 June 2017 (UTC)