Preservation
Many of the class have survived into preservation thanks to the high workload of Woodham Brothers scrapyard in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales, which found it easier and more commercially lucrative to scrap railway wagons, keeping the more technical steam locomotives for a down turn in workload.
One engine, 35028 Clan Line, was bought by the Merchant Navy Locomotive Preservation Society direct from British Railways in 1967, and has since been regarded as the 'flagship' of the class. Although eleven members of the class have survived into the preservation era, it is very likely that many will never steam again, with only three having been restored to working order thus far. This is because the class is too large and heavy for use on most of today's heritage railways. As the entire class was rebuilt from 1956 onwards, no Merchant Navy class locomotives exist in as-built condition, although there are frequent debates within the heritage sector regarding reverse-engineering one of the not-yet-restored examples to original condition. Other relics of the class have survived in the guise of locomotive nameplates and smokebox number plates, which were taken from their locomotives towards the end of steam on the British Railways Southern Region in the 1960s. As a result many exist in private collections, and several have been seen at auction, selling for several thousands of pounds.
Read more about this topic: SR Merchant Navy Class
Famous quotes containing the word preservation:
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—Hermann Hesse (1877–1962)
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—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)