Kirpal Singh Commemorative Plate

[John Ashworth]

A recent update on behalf of Geoff Cooke's May Rail Tour in Kenya

Some time back it was proposed to have a brass plate cut and engraved along the lines of a Beyer Peacock works plate and fitted in the cab of 5918 to commemorate Kirpal Singh and the fact he had driven the loco for 16 years and again in 2001 as featured in Nick Lera’s superb documentary.

To this end, Maurice in the Museum and the family in Mombasa were contacted to ensure they had no objections. On the contrary all parties were extremely pleased and I had the plate cut and engraved in Poole. The finished result was collected yesterday and will hopefully be fitted together with a short ceremony on 5918 outside the museum at about 2 pm on Saturday 21 May. Unfortunately Kirpal's family are unable to attend but a suitable record of events will be sent to them. We look forward to updating the site with pix of the ceremony not to mention the locos in steam…

[Chris Janisch]

Fantastic tribute to a great man of steam!