Factfile: Maunsell ‘Lord Nelson’ 4‑6‑0

The Southern Railway had to balance operating heavy expresses to the Channel ports and the West Country with the busy commuter system around London. The ‘King Arthur’ 4-6-0s could handle the heaviest of trains but with little in reserve – a failure could cause havoc with the electric services. Chief Mechanical Engineer Richard Maunsell penned a big 4‑6‑0 to provide enough power for the West Country trains. He had to scale back his plans when it fell afoul of the Civil Engineer’s axle weight limit. However, the new locomotive, No. 850, emerged from Eastleigh in 1925. Named after the hero of the Battle of Trafalgar, L woards, Nweitlhso antheoretical tractive effort of 33,500lb, Britain’s most powerful steam locomotive. Spurred on by this, the Great Western Railway would develop the ‘King’ 4-6-0 – but that’s another story. 3 L porrodv Nedeltsoonbe a capable machine on test, though it didn’t offer much more than a good ‘King Arthur’. But Maunsell ordered a further ten. As they were for use on the Eastern Section, they were paired with six-wheel tenders, rather than the bogie tender behind No. 850. However, it was swiftly decided to allocate the new locomotives to the Western Section, and they appeared in 1928 with bogie tenders. A further eight ‘LNS’ were built in 1929. Like their predecessors, they also carried the names of famous naval commanders. The ‘LNS’ were plagued by performance issues. It’s believed that some of this stemmed from firemen unused to the long, Belpaire firebox with its split-level grates.ates. Maunsell and his successor, Bulleid, tried different blastpipes and cylinders to cure the ‘Nelson’s’ problems. The successful formula consisted of a Lemaître multi‑nozzle blastpipe and new cylinders with 10in piston valves. Although it now matched Maunsell’s original expectations, the ‘LN’S’ reign was curtailed by Bulleid’s ‘Pacifics’ and the whole class was withdrawn between August 1961 and October 1962. Pioneer No. 850 was saved as part of the National Collection.

ARCHIVE PL/ALAMY 1: 1A: lthough Although slightly slightly grainy, grainy, this this psihrotograph photograph shows No. 851 Sir F inratnhcei scdonradkiteion in which Hornby has modelled it: original chimney, short smokebox, twin snifting valves and original pattern tender. It entered service in May 1928 and was withdrawn from Eastleigh in December 1961. It was scrapped there during the spring of 1962.

2 A: stunning portrait of ex-works S, tiarkferann cis Drake at Eastleigh. It has the Lemaître blastpipe, identified by the large diameter chimney and the post-1937 selftrimming tender. You can tell the latter by the raised raves. ‘Drake’ was unique amongst the ‘LNS’ – it received new cylinders but with 8in piston valves and, consequently, it kept its original length smokebox until withdrawal. w Ciothldoruawr arla. C IL 3 Preserved pioneer No. 850 L hoarudlsnae lrsaoilntour bound for Exeter away from Clapham Junction on July 8 2007. The locomotive is now on display at the Mid-hants Railway. No. 850 sports the extended smokebox fitted when it received Bulleid cylinders with 10in piston valves. The giveaway is that the steampipes don’t pierce the bottom edge of the s Emdohkuerdsetflectors.

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