Posted by David Bamford on March 20, 2008 at 06:58:12 from 220.253.45.247 user David.
While Googling for something else, [isn't it always the way?] I came across a website about a model of a class of Japanese steam locomotives, the C62 class [4-6-4] popularly known as the 'Swallow' class. The author of the website couldn't understand why the name. Perfectly reproduced on the smoke deflector, as large as life, is the rather unusual rendition of a swallow which was on Titty's burgee for The Swallow. We can tell the website's author how the name relates to the image, but how did a class of Japanese locomotives come to be named after AR's storybook dinghy? There must have been a closet Ransome fan somewhere in the Japanese railway hierarchy; but who? I think that we need the combined skills of Jock and Sakoyo to unravel this conundrum.
The website URL is http://www.bigscalemodels.com./trains/swallow/trains.html
David.