LBSCR Marsh 'H1' class atlantic no. 39 stands outside Victoria station in this undated view photographed between January 1906 and June 1913 which was when the name La France was applied. No. 39 became 2039 under the auspices of the Southern and was renamed Hartland Point in January 1926. No. 2039 would survive into BR days and would acquire its BR number in August 1949 but would spend much of its time in store until being withdrawn in February 1951 whilst allocated to Bricklayers Arms mpd. (
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LB & SCR (London, Brighton and South Coast Railway) No.39 - Atlantic Type Express Locomotive, decorated for the visit of the French President [Raymond Poincaré]. (
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More: On the 3 June [1913] when M. Poincaré left Paris for Cherbourg on his visit to London, the train was hauled by the Pacific type locomotive, 231-019. The train left Paris, St. Lazare, at 11.00, and arrived at Cherbourg at 17.16. The train was composed of three fine saloons ot the President's train and a dining car and two saloons of the International Sleeping Car Co. From Portsmouth to London the President's train was hauled by the L.B. & S.C.R. Atlantic type locomotive No. 39, named La France specially for the occasion. (
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Marsh abandoned the Brighton practice of naming locomotives and as a result only one of the H1s bore a name during LBSC days, Nº39, which was named La France in 1913 prior to working the train for the visit of the French President, as seen above. The name was carried until January 1926 at which time the Southern Railway renamed the locomotive Hartland Point. (
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