Although initially prestigious for the Southern Railway, under British Railways the original 'air-smoothed' Merchant Navy class showed more serious problems. The design and construction of the locomotive was substantially sound, but the unusual features began to cause maintenance difficulties.

The boiler's air-smoothed casing prevented easy access to boiler fittings, and similarly, the labour saving flood lubrication meant that as the encased valve gear began to wear, or valve timing became erratic, identifying and fixing even small problems became a major job. Sump oil also leaked out causing additional wheel slipping, and was thrown up under the cladding leading to occasional fires.

Faced with balancing the costs of new locomotives against the likely remaining years of steam operation, British Railways decided to substantially rebuild the entire class from 1956, during which they lost their distinctive casing and controversial valve gear.

Whilst retaining the frames, wheels and boiler; the oil bath and chain driven valve gear were removed along with the inside cylinder block. A new inside cylinder and smokebox were installed, along with three new sets of valve gear, each mounted in-line with their respective cylinders, meaning new supporting brackets. The cabs were modified to give better forward visibility, and the new boiler cladding was in the accessible style of a B.R. standard class.

They were equally attractive in their new guise, and rather more reliable, though heavier. Although looking far more traditional, J.G. Jarvis who was in charge of the re-design is quoted as saying that the engines remained 90 per cent Bulleid. They certainly became one of the finest Pacific designs in terms of performance and appearance, and ran until the end of B.R. steam.

The recent Hornby model 'A.C.E.' train pack featuring a re-built Merchant Navy class continues to be very collectable, and shows the esteem in which this class is still held by many.

Fortunately several Merchant Navy locos were saved from the cutting torch, although now in various states of repair. Undertaking the restoration of one of these is a massive team operation often taking more than a decade to achieve, costing hundreds of thousands of pounds. Even when restored a loco has to be put into reveune earning service in readiness to pay for the next overhaul.

In March 2007, rebuilt Pacific 35009 'Shaw Saville' was up for sale on eBay, as a kit of rather large rusty parts, but the closing bid of £7,600 did not reach the reserve price (of probably £100,000). But even if it had, that would pale against the costs of transport, refurbishment, new parts, and putting it all back together again !

However, complete, these are impressive locomotives in any scale, and the model certainly has it's own graceful presence, though the strict B.R. livery tends to limit the colour schemes available.

Here a number of owners have contributed articles on their own versions of these intriguing locomotives, a substantially different model from the 'original' class.   This is an ambitious build to undertake, and although a published design and castings are available for a 5" gauge version - 'Aeriel' - several of the locomotives described were individually scaled from copies of Works drawings.

Each of the model locomotives featured is a credit to the builder, or as sometimes happens the person who takes over ownership, and keeps such a complex locomotive running.

Additional articles are welcomed, please let me know about further Merchant Navy models that might be included.

Please hover your mouse over the photos for their descriptions.