ORIGINAL BULLEID LIGHT PACIFICS

The SR West Country and Battle of Britain classes, collectively known as Light Pacifics or 'Spam Cans', are air-smoothed 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotives designed for the Southern Railway by its Chief Mechanical Engineer Oliver Bulleid. Incorporating a number of new developments in British steam locomotive technology, they were amongst the first British designs to use welding in the construction process, and to use steel fireboxes, which meant that components could be more easily constructed under wartime austerity and post-war economy. They were designed to be lighter in weight than their sister locomotives, the Merchant Navy class  so they could be used on a wider variety of routes, including in the south-west of England and the Kent coast. A total of 110 locomotives were constructed between 1945 and 1950, named after West Country resorts or Royal Air Force squadrons  and other subjects linked with the Battle of Britain.