This popped up in my alerts from an online marketplace (similar to Craigslist) in Western Canada. The seller has an assortment of 'garage sale' type items and this is mixed in with the baby strollers, old appliances, DVDs, golf clubs, ect and no other railway related items. The seller describes it as "Its 6/16 inches deep x 8 inches tall x 17 3/4 inches across in size, heavy metal".

Very clearly it is a reproduction from Southern Railway #4501, but what exactly is it? Is it a gift shop souvenir item or something else like a spare plate (from the excursion era) that was never used?

Thanks in advance,

RWC





For comparison -

My money is on reproduction for a for a giant pant load of reasons.

Since it's for sale on a general site, what do you bet someone buys it for a street address marker? It actually would be a pretty good one.

no mounting holes is a clear givaway

And the wrong material. It looks like aluminum. IIRC, it should be brass/bronze.

Definitely a reproduction. To my knowledge, we never sold reproduction number plates in the gift shop. Whenever the number plates were removed from the locomotive, they were kept in locked storage. I believe that the discs with the Southern Railway logo that went on the cab are in locked storage now.

Aluminum reproduction it definitely appears to be -- for the right price, probably a worthwhile buy if you're a Southern fan IMHO. Nice to get them in brass but aluminum certainly helps you on the shipping side of things if they're so willing.