Southern Railway Unrebuilt Bullied Light Pacific 4-6-2 34007 "Wadebridge"

Loco Information

Completed at Brighton in August 1945 No.34007 is one of the “West Country” class engines designed by O.V. S Bulleid as a lighter version of his “Merchant Navy” locomotives offering better route availability. Note the original numbering using the notation 21C where the “2” refers to the axles in the leading bogie, the “1” to the trailing wheels and “C” to the three pairs of coupled wheels, the “West Country” class numbers starting at 101. This was derived from a French style of numbering.

Wadebridge is one of its class that was not rebuilt and has retained its original air-smoothed casing and chain driven valve gear. The locomotives that retained their casing were known as ‘Spam Cans’ due to their shape.

Another of Bulleids innovations was the introduction of steam assisted reversing gear to this class. Instead of the manual screw mechanisms that were widely used, Bulleid saw an improvement through steam gear. These were removed when the locomotives were rebuilt.

West Country’s were known for slipping. The fact the oil baths did leak would not have helped their reputation.

No.21C107 began its mainline career at Exmouth Junction moving to Nine Elms in 1951 and re-numbered 34007. Its last allocation was to Salisbury in August 1964 being withdrawn in October 1965 and arriving at Barry scrap yard in May 1966. It had clocked up 823,193 miles in service.

Rescued for preservation in 1981 at the Plym Valley Railway, Wadebridge was later restored at the Bodmin and Wenford Railway but proved too large. In the last few years it has been hired out to other Railways, in particular the MHR.

34007 is a regualer runner of the mid hants fleet.