Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 44, 2008

The SR N class were 2-6-0 (mogul) steam locomotives designed by Richard Maunsell for mixed-traffic duties, initially on the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR), and latterly on the Southern Railway. A highly standardised class of locomotive, the N class had a long period of conception, delayed by the First World War in 1914, and was not introduced until 1917, three years after the original design. Several members of the class were manufactured as kits of parts at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, and given the nickname "Woolworths". Able to operate over most of the Southern Railway network after grouping in 1923, the N class survived until 1966, when all had been withdrawn from service. Only a single example has been preserved, British Railways number 31874; this locomotive is now in storage at the Mid-Hants Railway pending overhaul.