4-6-2 Class 8P Merchant Navy streamlined SR Profile and Models

4-6-2 Class 8P Merchant Navy streamlined SR

35030 'Elder-Dempster Lines' at Factory Junction, London in September 1953. ©Ben Brooksbank

The SR Merchant Navy class (originally known as the 21C1 class, and later informally known as Bulleid Pacifics, Spam Cans – which name was also applied to the Light Pacifics – or Packets) is a class of air-smoothed 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotives designed for the Southern Railway by Oliver Bulleid. The first members of the class were constructed during the Second World War, and the last of the 30 locomotives in 1949. Incorporating a number of new developments in British steam locomotive technology, the design of the Merchant Navy class was among the first to use welding in the construction process; this enabled easier fabrication of components during the austerity of the war and post-war economies. In addition, the locomotives featured thermic syphons in their boilers and the controversial Bulleid chain-driven valve gear. The class members were named after the Merchant Navy shipping lines involved in the Battle of the Atlantic, and latterly those which used Southampton Docks: a publicity masterstroke by the Southern Railway, which operated Southampton Docks during the period. Due to problems with some of the more novel features of Bulleid's design, all members of the class were modified by British Railways during the late 1950s, losing their air-smoothed casings in the process.

(Information provided via Wikipedia)

Type of Locomotive

Steam

Builder

SR Eastleigh Works

Build Date

1941 to 1949

Total Built

30

Tractive Effort

37,515 lbf
(later reduced to 33,495 lbf)

Wheel Configuration

4-6-2

Operated By

Southern Railway
British Railways

Main Duties

Express Passenger

In Service Until

All Modified by 1960

Surviving Examples

0
(All modified - 11 of these preserved)

 

TT3 Gauge (1:100 scale)

Products awaiting categorisation

Scale Brand Image Construction Type DCC Capability Product Code Product Title Livery
OO Gauge (1:76 Scale) Millholme Models MM7 SR Unrebuilt Merchant Navy Class Kit Requires assembly Not set MM7
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SR Unrebuilt Merchant Navy Class Kit Awaiting Categorisation