Rare piece of Doncaster railway history sold for hundreds of pounds

But this document, just a few inches wide with handwritten notes filled in by an uknown Doncaster railway engineer more than 80 years ago, could be worth hundreds of pounds.

The card is part of the history of one of the most iconic designs of steam locomotives in British railway history and has just gone on the market for sale.

It is the engine repairs card from the old Doncaster Plantworks in Hexthorpe, for the LNER A4 Pacific locomotive Dominion of New Zealand, engine number 4492 – one of the sister engines to The Mallard, which is famous as the fastest steam locomotive in history.

A similar piece of paper, for another locomotive of the same design, called Sir Nigel Gresley, sold for £250 last month.

A total of 35 of the engines were built originally at the Doncaster works in the 1930s.

Both documents are being sold by bookseller, Gerald Baker, who discovered them in a collection of items he recently bought through his business.

He said the documents were just 9.5 inches by 7.5 inches – but each one was unique.

He said: “I’m not an expert in the railways, and I wonder if the record for Sir Nigel Gresley went for so much money was because it is still running, where as the New Zealand locomotive was scrapped.

“But they were both quite iconic engines, the same design as Mallard.

“It is possible that people may have things like this in their lofts in Doncaster. Maybe they came out when the railways were nationalised in the 40s.

“But I think the message is that items connected with the railways can have a lot of value, and that even includes items of paperwork like these. It may be unlikely people have these in their lofts gathering dust somewhere, but you never know. Somone could have picked something up at the works and taken it home years ago.”

Mr Baker, of Baker Books, who is based in Bristol, is selling the sheet on Ebay under the name mr.publicity.

The Doncaster works created iconic engines including Mallard and Flying Scotsman.