72 - A FINELY RESTORED BUILDER'S MODEL FOR THE LONDON AND NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY PADDLE STEAMER DUKE OF SUTHERLAND, BUILT BY ANDREW LESLIE & CO., HEBBURN, 1868

A FINELY RESTORED BUILDER'S MODEL FOR THE LONDON AND NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY PADDLE STEAMER DUKE OF SUTHERLAND, BUILT BY ANDREW LESLIE & CO., HEBBURN, 1868 the 64in. laminated and carved hull with pierced paddle boxes displaying company name and device, feathering red-painted paddle wheels, lined and lacquered decks with gold-plated fittings as appropriate including deck rails, oxidised anchors with square link chains, capstan, covered companionway, raked masts with standing and running rigging, covered hatches, stayed carved wooden funnels with bell-tops and whistles, engine room lights, helm and mushroom-topped binnacle, deckhouse and saloon lights with benches, 4 open boats in davits, mounted on 4 metal supports to display base with silvered builder's plate within later glazed wooden case and stand -- 58 x 75 x 21in. (147 x 190.5 x 53.5cm.) Provenance: With Richard Gardiner Antiques, 2006. Large numbers of coastal paddlers were owned by Britain’s railway companies to complement their services in the second half of the nineteenth century, few more so than the London and North Western Railway for its principal Irish Sea route from Holyhead to Kingstown (for Dublin). Inaugurated in 1848, the service proved hugely popular from the start and new steamers were regularly added to the L. & N.W.R.’s fleet to cope with the continuous growth of traffic. One such newcomer was Duke of Sutherland, built by Leslie & Co. on the Tyne and launched on 26 th March 1868. Registered at 860 tons gross (410 net) and measuring 244 feet in length with a 30 foot beam, her 2-cylinder oscillating engines by Stephenson's of Newcastle gave her a top speed of 15 knots, considerably faster than any other vessel in the company’s fleet. Nine years into her career, in February 1877, she was driven ashore at Holyhead after a collision with one of her consorts, the Stanley, but repaired and sent back into service until 1888 when she was withdrawn and sold for scrapping.