Bulleid Light Pacific

West Country / Battle of Britain Class

A Change of Naming Policy

Engines were outshopped in Malachite Green with yellow lining. The first examples were dispatched to the SR’s far west outpost, the ‘’Withered Arm’’, working between Exeter and Ilfracombe/Plymouth. By the end of 1946, twenty-seven of the type were allocated to Exmouth Junction, in addition to the first five MN engines, and the naming policy continued to be after places in the west country. This changed in November 1946, when new builds started to receive Eastern Section allocation. This was an interesting part of the SR network, for numerous weight restrictions had seen the retention of a motley collection of ex-SE&CR motive power to haul core express services. The SR had instigated a locomotive renaissance in the district in 1925, when it started allocating ‘’King Arthur’’ (N15) Class engines to haul Victoria to Dover boat trains. To accept the comparatively heavy locomotives, bridge strengthening exercises took place, notable examples including that between Nunhead and Crofton Park on 24th May 1925, and a later reconstruction of the ‘’Chatham’’ line viaduct which passed over the Medway Valley route at Strood, in 1927. In keeping with the surroundings, Bulleid Light Pacifics started to acquire names associated with the Battle of Britain, such as aircraft, airfields, squadrons, and individuals. Stewarts Lane and Ramsgate, the former extensively enlarged by the SR in 1934 and the latter a completely new SR depot from 1930, received allocations of the type. By 1947, Ramsgate had an allocation of twelve Light Pacifics, and Stewarts Lane was home to eight of the type, this shed still commanding more than double this number in ‘’King Arthur’’ engines. It was not until September of that year that the first ‘’Battle of Britain’’ namings formally took place.

Nationalisation

British Railways formally came into existence in January 1948, and in September of the following year, Bulleid left the service of the former SR, transferring to Dublin. There, he became Consulting Mechanical Engineer for ‘’Coras Iompair Eireann’’ (Irish State Railway), and was subsequently promoted to Chief Mechanical Engineer. It is alleged that the move was in light of his reduced autocratic power, which he previously enjoyed under the Southern Railway – it was also reported that he vehemently opposed the nationalisation of the railways.

By 1948, seventy Light Pacifics were in service and twenty of the larger MN Class had been built, but production was not to end there. The works at Brighton and Eastleigh continued to churn out new builds throughout January, perpetuating Bulleid’s unique ‘’S’’ prefix numbering system. By the following month, renumbering of the entire locomotive fleet of the then newly-formed BR began, and new ‘’Spam Cans’’ emerged under a more conventional numbering arrangement. The MN Class were renumbered in the range 35001 to 35020, and West Country / Battle of Britain engines became Nos. 34001 to 34070. The first new Light Pacific to emerge under BR auspices was No. 34071, in April 1948, which was later to become ‘’601 Squadron’’ at a naming ceremony in September of the same year. By May 1950, Brighton and Eastleigh Works had completed 109 Light Pacifics between them, but the final locomotive, No. 34110, remained outstanding on order. Since existing locomotives had been plagued by problems caused by the chain-driven valve gear and oil bath, it was considered equipping the final example with more conventional valve gear. However, in January of the following year, No. 34110 (later named ‘’66 Squadron’’) emerged with the Bulleid arrangement.

Mention should also be made of the locomotive exchange trials of 1948, which saw a trio of ‘’West Country’’ engines acquire, if only temporarily, ex-LMS Stanier tenders. Nos. 34004, 34005, and 34006 were so treated, and during May of that year, all were destined for alternate ‘’foreign’’ routes. Of the four erstwhile major railway companies, the SR was the only one not to have fitted water troughs to any of its routes, and naturally, none of its locomotives were fitted with water pick-up apparatus, which necessitated the pairing of the Bulleid engines with alternate tenders. By the same token, a number of locomotives visiting SR metals were paired with ''Austerity'' eight-wheel tenders, which had large water capacities. No. 34004 ‘’Yeovil’’ went far from Southern territory, and worked the scenic ‘’Highland Line’’ between Perth and Inverness. No. 34005 ‘’Barnstaple’’ was deployed on the ex-Midland Railway trunk line between St Pancras and Manchester (Central), whilst No. 34006 ‘’Bude’’ appeared on the parallel-running ex-Great Central route between Marylebone and Manchester (Road). In May of the following year, No. 34059 ‘’Sir Archibald Sinclair’’ underwent trials between Liverpool Street and Norwich. Further Light Pacifics arrived on the Eastern Region in May 1951, Nos. 34039 ‘’Boscastle’’, 34057 ‘’Biggin Hill’’, and 34065 ‘’Hurricane’’ all receiving Stratford allocation. They were soon joined by Nos. 34076 ‘’41 Squadron’’ and 34089 ‘’602 Squadron’’, and all returned to Southern metals in 1952.

It is also worth making brief mention of the short-lived oil burning programme undertaken on a small number of engines, which had been instigated by the Southern Railway. In July 1947, work began on converting No. 21C119 ‘’Bideford’’ to run on this form of fuel, which involved installing an oil tank in the former coal bunker of the tender. It was intended to convert a total of thirty Light Pacifics to oil burning and in the months immediately after nationalisation, No. 21C136 ‘’Westward Ho’’ became the second candidate. The programme went no further: by summer 1948, both engines had been converted back to coal engines, as it transpired that oil could no longer be sourced cheaply from abroad.

As touched upon earlier, the first livery to adorn these locomotives was that of Malachite Green, with yellow horizontal lining upon the air-smoothed casing and tender, the latter also displaying ‘’SOUTHERN’’ in Sunshine lettering. After nationalisation, this livery was briefly perpetuated on new builds, but ‘’SOUTHERN’’ was replaced by ‘’BRITISH RAILWAYS’’ on the tender, albeit still in the same Sunshine lettering. In addition, from February 1948 onwards, the unique Bulleid numbering system was replaced by a standardised BR format, but even this continued to be applied in the Sunshine style. All was to change when, in August of the following year, No. 34039 ‘’Boscastle’’ emerged wearing BR Brunswick Green livery, which was to become the standard scheme for the locomotives hereafter. The larger MN Class engines witnessed greater livery variation throughout their existence, wearing a wartime black scheme and, latterly, BR’s experimental blue colours (which, admittedly, suited the ‘’Spam Cans’’ well) – hopefully, these will be discussed in greater detail in a separate website section for the MN class in due course.

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