Bet on railwayana, not banks

In a week when Lloyds Bank shares went through the floor, punters were backing railwayana futures at Virgin Trains nameplate auction at Waterloo station on Saturday.

Voyager and other modern traction plates auctioned in aid of the Railway Benevolent Fund fetched what the organisers reckon were "astonishing" prices.

Class 86 'Charles Rennie Mackintosh went for £4,700.

Even the most modest Voyager names went for £500-plus, with Super Voyager "Doctor Who" exceeding £2,000, as £106,000 was raised by Virgin for the charity.

"Amazing prices," said one insider connected with the auction. "Many of these nameplates hadn't been on the trains for more than five minutes."

Well done, Virgin PR boss Steve Knight, whose idea it was.

Maybe he should be advising the Treasury?

Rail celebrities don't sell

A report from Railway Eye's independent Auction Expert:

A nameplate bearing the moniker of eminent train snapper Brian Morrison failed to reach its reserve at today's Sheffield Railwayana auction.

The nameplate, from a former Virgin Class 47, was priced at a relatively modest £1.200.

Brian, who was presented with one of the two plates when they were taken off the loco, remained philosophical. Instead of boosting his pension, the oldest snapper in the train biz is clearly going to have to carry on working.

Stingy lot these railwayana buffs.

A set of plates from the Wessex Electrics, donated by SWT in aid of a children's charity struggled to sell.

Most plates only achieved prices in the low hundreds despite much prompting from auctioneer Ian Wright.