Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 32, 2007

The SR Class V or "Schools Class" is a class of steam locomotive designed by Richard Maunsell for the Southern Railway. They represent the ultimate development of the British 4-4-0 type, the last in a long line operating on Southern metals. The class was based upon Maunsell's Lord Nelson Class, and had some interchangeable components with this class. It represented the last utilisation of this wheel arrangement in Britain, and was regarded as the most powerful class of 4-4-0 in Britain. All 40 of the Class V were named after English public schools, and were designed to provide a powerful class of express passenger locomotive for the heavily restricted Tonbridge to Hastings line. Subjected to various modifications to improve performance, the class operated until 1963, and three examples of the class have been saved from scrapping, and can be seen on heritage railways throughout Britain.