Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 23, 2007

The West Country and Battle of Britain Classes, also known as Bulleid Light Pacifics or 'Spam Cans,' are classes of streamlined 4-6-2 steam locomotives designed for the Southern Railway in Great Britain by Oliver Bulleid. Sixty members of both classes were subsequently rebuilt by British Railways during the late 1950s. Intended for express passenger and semi-fast work in South-East and South-West England, 110 of them were eventually built incorporating many innovations previously used on the SR Merchant Navy Class. The classes operated until the end of Southern steam in July 1967, and many examples of the class have been preserved, and can be seen on heritage railways throughout Britain.