Auction of railway memorabilia from Bridlington Station buffet expected to fetch £30,000 in bids

Becky Brigham, an auction room administrator, with a working electric model of the Flying Scotsman made of brass. Pictures: Charlotte Graham

Three times the normal number of bidders are expected to pack into a salesroom at Driffield on Valentine's Day for a sale of highly collectable and nostalgic railway items.

For nearly two decades most of it adorned the walls of the buffet and restroom at Bridlington Station, which remained virtually unchanged since opening a century ago.

Now more than 300 engine nameplates, station signs, advertisements and other artefacts, including model locomotives and a railwayman's lantern, are being sold off by owner John Sadler, 70, who has given up the tenancy of the grade two listed venue.

Becky Brigham, an auction room administrator at Spicers of Driffield, arranging metal advertising signs in the Bridlington Station Buffet sale Picture: Gary Longbottom

The collection - with an estimated value of around £30,000 - is going under the hammer at the Exchange Salesroom in Driffield on February 14. Viewing is on February 12 and 13.

Among the coveted objects on sale is a 15ft refreshments sign, which used to hang outside and is expected to fetch £500 to £800.

A genuine nameplate "Vera Lynn" off a locomotive, which was built in 1944 and commissioned in 1985 by the Dame herself, is expected to raise between £1000 and £1500.

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Auctioneer Andy Spicer with a 31/2 inch guage LNER 0-8-0 live steam coal fired Q5 locomotive with a tender, which has a guide price of 800-1200 Picture: Gary Longbottom

A Great Eastern Railway clock, with a chain driven English fusee movement, could fetch as much as £500.

Auctioneer Andy Spicer said: "That's a very good quality - railway clocks had to tell the right time otherwise people would be late for their trains."

Meanwhile a plate off a Glasgow railway shed, 66A, where 182 engines were stored in 1959, could make between £70 and £100.

A Nigel Gressley nameplate, which would have been worth £8,000 if it was genuine, will go under the hammer for £150 to £200.

An array of railway signs going under the hammer at Spicers of Driffield

Also going under the hammer is a Great Northern Railway crossing lamp, once used on a line between Grimsby and Louth, which could go for just £60 to £80.

Mr Spicer said: "Everyone is waiting with bated breath to see how it goes - there has been so much anticipation.

"Some of these old signs are 150 years old. They bring back so many memories."