Why do they have to pick a number so similar to another one running around? We have 60163 and now 60103 as well ... why not (in true Monty Python style) something completely different like 4472?
Apparently, it is currently being restored in 'wartime black', so the number 60103 would not be appropriate in any case.
It is currently running as Num. 502 in wartime black, the nameplates appear to be missing at present but sadly not the sideplates (smoke deflectors?) which in my view make it look like it wasn't a GNR/
LNER» design. I also think it looks wrong in
BR▸ dark green (which it is apparently planned to go into in the near(ish?) future), if anything I think I prefer it in black to BR dark green but I'd rather it was LNER apple green. The sideplates are awful whichever livery it wears.
As well as being similar to other steam loco numbers, 60103 looks like a class 60 diesel locomotive number.
3440 is a much nicer sort of number, IMHO▸ .
I was rather disapointed not to see 6023 on the Pembroke Coast Express last year, apparently they still haven't managed to make the King suitable for running on Network Rail metals. I'm much more interested to finally see a King in steam (in either
GWR▸ green or BR blue) than a BR dark green Gresley.