SOUTHERN ’TIL THE END
At 110 examples, the Bulleid ‘Light Pacifics’ were the largest class of 4-6-2s in Britain. ‘Battle of Britain’ No. S21C170 Manston, however, is particularly noteworthy, for it was the last built by the Southern Railway prior to nationalisation. This shot of the air-smoothed ‘Spam Can’, at Bricklayers Arms in May 1948, is full of historical interest and sums up the transitional period during the early months of the newly formed British Railways almost to a tee. There is very little to suggest that this scene hails from the post nationalisation era, with the locomotive resplendent in the Southern Railway’s distinctive Malachite green-and-sunshine livery, complete with the equally distinctive brass smokebox roundel, erroneously displaying the ‘BB’s’ ownership. In fact it is only the tender that bears explicit evidence of Manston’s ownership, with the legend ‘British Railways’ spelt out in full – as was common during the early years of nationalisation – in Southern-style sunshine lettering. Further, albeit less obvious, evidence of BR’s ownership can be seen on Manston’s cabside, with the tiny ‘S’ prefix to the idiosyncratic 21C170 number. Bulleid’s characteristic style of numbering would cause headaches for BR in the fullness of time, as it sought a uniform numbering system that it could apply to its locomotive fleet nationwide. In his typically independent fashion, SR CME Oliver Bulleid elected to adopt the continental system of counting axles – rather than wheels – in classing his locomotives, with unpowered axles being counted numerically, and driven axles alphabetically. A ‘Pacific’ therefore, would be a 2C1 (as opposed to a 4-6-2 under Whyte notation). Strangely however, Bulleid’s ‘Pacifics’ were designated ‘21C’, hence Manston’s number of 21C170. As the last ‘Light Pacific’ built under Southern auspices, Manston was the final member of the class to receive a Bulleid-style number, with the remaining 40 examples bearing their BR numbers from new. Under BR, Southern Region locomotives were numbered ‘3XXXX’, with the ‘Merchant Navies’ numbered in the ‘35XXX’ series and the ‘Light Pacifics’ in the ‘34XXX’ sequence. Manston therefore became No. 34070 in March 1949, presumably at the same time having its characteristic smokebox door roundel
replaced by a comparatively drab cast iron numberplate. Now preserved, Manston looks very different today compared to its 1948 guise, outshopped in its latter-day BR appearance as No. 34070. Its current BR express passenger green livery, applied in March 1953, arguably never quite suited the ‘Spam Cans’ as much as Malachite green with yellow stripes. ●● Like Manston, there is limited evidence that ex-Midland Railway ‘2F’ No. 58246 is under BR ownership in this view of the 0-6-0 at Derby in the same month. The Johnson-designed locomotive has received its BR number but still has LMS lettering on the tender, a timely reminder that the legacy of BR’s illustrious predecessors would remain for months – even years – to come.