SR Merchant Navy Class 4-6-2 35005 "Canadian Pacific"

Loco Information

Merchant Navies were known for their excellent steaming ability, largely thanks to the Bulleid boiler, and ran very smoothly at high speeds. The innovations originally applied to the class, such as Chain driven drives and air smoothed casing, were removed during rebuilding and this cured many ills. However, the locomotives did suffer from a number of issues throughout their careers such as being prone to wheel slip, so careful handling was often required.

Nick named 'Can Pac', she took part in the Rugby trials of 1952.

In the last days of steam on the Southern region, Merchant Navies regularly broke the magical 100mph. It is also said that 'unofficially', a Merchant Navy went faster than 126.5mph, therefore beating the world steam record held by A4 'Mallard', but this has never been proven. However, it is fair to say that crews did push the envelope in the final years of steam and the Merchant Navy class leant themselves well to very fast running

35005 is currently stored awaiting overhaul.