SR Merchant Navy Class 35028 Clan Line
Encyclopedia
Southern Railway (Great Britain)
The Southern Railway was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts and Kent...
rebuilt Merchant Navy
SR Merchant Navy class
The SR Merchant Navy class , was a class of air-smoothed 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotives designed for the Southern Railway of the United Kingdom by Oliver Bulleid...
4-6-2
4-6-2
4-6-2, in the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles , six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and two trailing wheels on one axle .These locomotives are also known as Pacifics...
class locomotive. 35028 was built at Eastleigh locomotive works in 1948. After a few weeks running in she was allocated to first to Dover then to Stewarts Lane
Stewarts Lane
Stewarts Lane is a large railway servicing facility in Battersea in London, England, founded by the London Chatham and Dover Railway in 1862, to serve London Victoria railway station. It was sited in the midst of a maze of railway lines between 'Factory Junction' and 'Stewarts Lane Junction',...
shed in London where she worked heavy trains on the trunk routes to the South East Channel ports, frequently working the prestige expresses, Golden Arrow and "The Night Ferry". After rebuilding in 1959 she was initially allocated to Nine Elms
Nine Elms
Nine Elms is a suburb of London, situated in the far north-eastern corner of the London Borough of Wandsworth between Battersea and Vauxhall.It is primarily an industrial area, dominated by Battersea Power Station, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, railway lines, a major Royal Mail sorting office and...
shed where she headed such trains as the Bournemouth Belle
Bournemouth Belle
The Bournemouth Belle was a named train run by the Southern Railway from 1931 until nationalisation in 1948 and subsequently by British Railways until it was withdrawn on 9 July 1967....
and the Atlantic Coast Express
Atlantic Coast Express
The Atlantic Coast Express was an express passenger train in England between Waterloo station, London and seaside resorts in the south-west...
. Indeed, it was while working the A.C.E. in 1961 she was unofficially timed at 104 mph passing Axminster. On July 2, 1967 Clan Line hauled a farewell special from Waterloo to Bournemouth and back and thus ended her BR career.
Preservation
Clan Line was bought one month after finishing her farewell special by the Merchant Navy Locomotive Preservation Society straight off BR for the sum of £3,850. The Group had wanted 35022 "Holland-America Line" but she was sent to Barry to be scrapped before they could get to her so they went for Clan Line instead. Clan Line was one of the first preserved locomotives to participate in steam specials and in 1974 she hauled her first revenue earning train in preservation from Basingstoke to Westbury. She thus commenced her long and distinguished career in private ownership.This locomotive is currently based at Stewarts Lane TMD, Battersea
Battersea
Battersea is an area of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is an inner-city district of South London, situated on the south side of the River Thames, 2.9 miles south-west of Charing Cross. Battersea spans from Fairfield in the west to Queenstown in the east...
. It returned to main line operation in October 2006.
35028 Clan Line was the first Merchant Navy class locomotive to operate on the main line in preservation. She has also visited the 2009 Eastleigh open day with sister 35005 Canadian Pacific.