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GBRf Names 66754 After Northampton Saints Rugby Club

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fgwrich

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One for Hadders and a few of the other Rugby supporters on here, GBRf has 'broken' with the tradition of naming loco's after football clubs and today named Class 66754 after Aviva Premiership Winning* club Northampton Saints.

No article but a few pictures here from Northampton Saints:
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialNorthamptonSaints/posts/932816460104366

Is Northampton now the first town to have two of it's sports teams on two different locos? The previous 'Northampton Loco' being NSE 86401.


*That's a little gutting for a Chiefs Fan to say, maybe this year though! :lol:
 
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Hadders

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Excellent work by GBRF and Northampton Saints and a nice link between my two of my passions in life :D

Link to the story on the Saints website:

http://www.northamptonsaints.co.uk/...e-carried-far-and-wide-by-GB-Railfreight.aspx

The Northampton Saints name will be a familiar sight on the nation’s railways, after a GB Railfreight locomotive has become the first to be named after an Aviva Premiership rugby club.
Director of rugby Jim Mallinder, coaches Alex King and Dorian West, club captain Dylan Hartley and British and Irish Lions winger George North joined John Smith, managing director of GB Railfreight, Martin Hill, chairman of long-standing club supporters GRS Roadstone, and other invited guests at Wellingborough Railhead for the naming ceremony.

The newly named locomotive ‘Northampton Saints’ will be part of GB Railfreight’s fleet that will be used throughout the UK on a whole range of different freight services, and Mallinder thanked all of the companies involved for their support of the club and the team.

“We’re honoured that GB Railfreight and GRS Roadstone have made the decision to name a locomotive after Northampton Saints,” he said. “It is not something that happens all that often, especially for a rugby club, and is something that we can be proud of.”

GB Railfreight managing director John Smith, who himself lives in the Northampton area, said that he was delighted that one of his locomotives will be carrying the Saints’ name.

“It’s very special for us to have the privilege of naming the locomotive after Northampton Saints,” he said. “It’s unique to have a rugby club name on the side of a locomotive, although we do have some football clubs. Having done those, and living in the Northampton area myself, we thought that it would be nice to celebrate the recent successes of Northampton Saints in this way.”

Martin Hill, chairman of GRS Roadstone, said that seeing the Saints become the first Aviva Premiership club to have its name be carried by a locomotive was special.

“I’m so proud of where the club has come from, from being relegated to where they are now, which is why I’ve worked with GB Railfreight to get this locomotive named after the Saints,” he said. “It’s unusual, and instead of doing something that’s the norm we’ve done something slightly different. Naming a train means that the Saints’ name will be seen up and down the country.”
 

sprinterguy

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I'm sure at least some of the current football 66s are names that were also carried by (L)NER B-17s.
They were ("Sunderland", "Sheffield Wednesday" and "Huddersfield Town"), but that would still only count as one sports team for a town if the name has been resurrected, not the two that was asked. Manchester had B17s named after both the City and United football clubs, for instance.
 

DarloRich

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They were ("Sunderland", "Sheffield Wednesday" and "Huddersfield Town"), but that would still only count as one sports team for a town if the name has been resurrected, not the two that was asked. Manchester had B17s named after both the City and United football clubs, for instance.

And Darlington had one named by the chaps at the works who were unhappy that their team was omitted. The story goes that the work was so good the company allowed it to become official.

Why GBRF have overlooked us in their naming system i will never know. To do one for egg chasers is sacrilegious ;)
 

Hadders

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Why GBRF have overlooked us in their naming system i will never know. To do one for egg chasers is sacrilegious ;)

Egg chasers!!! We're the current Premiership Champions I'll have you know ;)
 

DarloRich

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actually, despite relating to 15 man amateur egg chasing, not 13 man professional northern egg chasing ;) the name plates look to be of a really good quality with the club crest shown on a nice green background
 

61653 HTAFC

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They were ("Sunderland", "Sheffield Wednesday" and "Huddersfield Town"), but that would still only count as one sports team for a town if the name has been resurrected, not the two that was asked. Manchester had B17s named after both the City and United football clubs, for instance.

Quite right, silly me. :oops:

I take it there was never a "Sheffield United" B17 then?
 
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RichmondCommu

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I'm pretty certain that GBRf have named one of their locos Derby County. Perhaps it could be used to deliver Steve McClaren to Newcastle in the back cab as light engine?
 

childwallblues

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They were ("Sunderland", "Sheffield Wednesday" and "Huddersfield Town"), but that would still only count as one sports team for a town if the name has been resurrected, not the two that was asked. Manchester had B17s named after both the City and United football clubs, for instance.

And there were B17s named Liverpool and Everton
 

37038

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Just for the sake of completeness we've had in the past (on B17s):

Arsenal, Sheffield United, Grimsby Town, Derby County, Darlington, Huddersfield Town, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Leeds United, Doncaster Rovers, Newcastle United, Norwich City, Hull City, Sheffield Wednesday, Manchester United, Everton, Liverpool, Leicester City, Nottingham Forest, Bradford, Bradford City, Barnsley, Manchester City (on two locos!), Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United

Wolverhampton Wanderers also appeared for the first time on a loco (66736) and the first rugby team with a named loco (66754 - Northampton Saints)

Might see a few more 66s with football related names but doubt we'll see Newcastle United on the side of anything whilst Mr Smith's in charge (one of those Mackem types...) ;)
 

61653 HTAFC

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Just for the sake of completeness we've had in the past (on B17s):

Arsenal, Sheffield United, Grimsby Town, Derby County, Darlington, Huddersfield Town, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Leeds United, Doncaster Rovers, Newcastle United, Norwich City, Hull City, Sheffield Wednesday, Manchester United, Everton, Liverpool, Leicester City, Nottingham Forest, Bradford, Bradford City, Barnsley, Manchester City (on two locos!), Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United

Wolverhampton Wanderers also appeared for the first time on a loco (66736) and the first rugby team with a named loco (66754 - Northampton Saints)

Might see a few more 66s with football related names but doubt we'll see Newcastle United on the side of anything whilst Mr Smith's in charge (one of those Mackem types...) ;)

Would I be right in assuming that the 'Bradford' loco was named for Park Avenue rather than City? In which case there's another city with two teams having locomotives named in their honour...
 
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