A REPLICA name plate of the locomotive which once plied up and down the Settle-Carlisle rail line bearing the name of a famous public school will shortly be hanging in Settle station.

Thanks to the generosity of Giggleswick School, the Friends of the Settle and Carlisle Railway took delivery of the handsome red and black brass plate at a special ceremony at the school.

The LMS locomotive which bore the name Giggleswick was built in July 1933 and was one of the "Baby Royal Scot" class of locomotive called the Patriot Class, introduced in 1930 and named in honour of railwaymen who had died in the First World War.

In 1938 the chief guest at the school speech day was Sir Harold Hartley, vice-president of the LMS and, perhaps in response to some hints at the time, he offered to arrange an LMS locomotive to be named after the school - Southern Railways had been naming some of their locos after famous public schools.

A naming ceremony took place on November 4 1938 and a photograph is currently exhibited at Settle station. It shows the two youngest boys at the school, Gregor Mckintosh (son of the late headmaster of Ermysted's) and Michael Foster (from Ilkley) pulling back the curtain as the Giggleswick headmaster, Edward Partridge, breaks a bottle of champagne over the nameplate. A short Pathe newsreel still exists showing a few seconds of the ceremony.

From then until 1962 Giggleswick pulled trains between Leeds and Glasgow (passing its namesake) and Leeds and London until steam was deemed a liability and the train was broken up.

One of the two nameplates was rescued and handed to an old Giggleswickian, who later gave it to the school.

For many years it hung in the school dining room, until someone pointed out that as a piece of railway memorabilia it had considerable value. It was transferred to the safe, until the school decided that it was pointless keeping it out of sight.

So the original is to be sold at auction in Sheffield on Saturday when it is expected to fetch a five figure sum.

Two copies were made, one to be retained by the school and the second donated to the Friends.

Handing it over Geoffrey Boult, headmaster of Giggleswick, said: "We are delighted to hand this to the Friends and look forward to seeing it hanging in our local station. We are proud to be associated with the railway in any way."

Meanwhile Nigel Mussett, former head of biology at the school, is currently researching the history of the locomotive and intends to publish a book on the subject in the autumn.