Smokebox Numberplate 70008. Unlike others purporting to be 'replacement smokebox numberplates', this is the genuine article, a real replacement fitted to Britannia Class 4-6-2 BLACK PRINCE. When the loco moved to Carlisle in the latter part of the 60's for use on Carlisle - Glasgow trains, along with other Britannias, the smokebox plates were snapped up by enthusiasts. Replacement numberplates were fitted to some and this is the best example seen. Not a reproduced original, but a flat steel plate, correctly drilled and merely painted in BR style. The accompanying b/w photograph shows the very plate on an open smokebox door on the loco in 1967 at Carlisle Kingmoor after withdrawal. Wonderful ex loco, who knows for how long it was carried but the evidence is there for all to see that it worked the grime and filth of the dying days of steam. A truly fabulous, indeed historic artefact of the finest hours of steam on BR.