Press Office
4472 from 4472 Cabside cufflinks
Not many gentlemen can say that their cufflinks travelled over a million miles before ending up on their shirt sleeves - especially not as part of the world’s most famous steam engine.
But now, in conjunction with TMB Art Metal, the National Railway Museum has created a unique range of Flying Scotsman bronze jewellery and sculptures using metal from the locomotive itself.
Many mechanical components from Flying Scotsman are now being replaced as part of the engine’s major overhaul in the workshops of the National Railway Museum. But scrap bronze from the locomotive’s boiler and chassis is to be given a new lease of life as a collection of commemorative sculptures and jewellery.
TMB Art Metal is a specialist company dedicated to producing high-quality ‘provenance’ sculptures crafted from the original metal of the portrayed subject. The company has created a unique sculpted cufflink design depicting the driver’s cab, complete with finely-detailed driver and the trademark locomotive number ‘4472’.
And production is already underway to create a very limited number of sculptures of the engine itself - one variant potentially up to four feet long - made using bronze from Flying Scotsman’s firebox and gunmetal from the axle-box.
All the items are accompanied by a certificate, guaranteeing that they are cast entirely in authentic Flying Scotsman metal. The commemorative cufflinks are expected to retail for around £150, while the price of the sculptures will be announced later.
Both the Cabside cufflinks and the larger pieces are designed by specialist York-based sculptor Stephen Allen, himself a keen railway enthusiast whose father was a fireman for the LNER railway company in the days of steam.
The 4472 From 4472 edition pieces are cast using metal from components which the Museum believes were originally installed on Scotsman shortly after the Second World War.
All the Museum’s profits from the sale of these items will be ploughed into the Flying Scotsman Appeal to support the restoration of this historic locomotive.
Christopher Bennett, founder of TMB Art Metal, said:
“These amazing Cabside cufflinks are a fusion of luxury with heritage, offering you the chance not just to own a true piece of railway history, but to wear it on your sleeve!
“What could make a better gift for the cufflink-wearing, Flying Scotsman-loving gent who thought he had everything?”
Notes for editors
- Flying Scotsman is currently undergoing a major overhaul in the museum’s Workshop, ready for its return to the mainline as a working locomotive towards the end of 2009. For more information the 24-hour Flying Scotsman information line number is 08448 159985.
- The creation of Christopher Bennett, TMB Art Metal was founded as an afterthought following the much publicised 2004 excavation of a WW2 Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft, P2725 TM-B, which, having rammed a German bomber intent on destroying Buckingham Palace, crashed into Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1 on 15 September 1940, Battle of Britain Day. Post-excavation, using fragments of corroded engine casing from the Hurricane’s Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, Christopher decided to cast a limited edition of aluminum sculptures of the Hurricane made of the Hurricane. One sculpture was presented to HM The Queen whose residence the aircraft had saved some 65 years previously. Such was the interest in the concept - essentially turning ‘redundant’ metal with provenance into beautiful works of art - that TMB Art Metal was created to expand the portfolio of subjects.