Description

The Southern Railway built 140 Pacifics, 2nd only to LNER on which the eminent railway engineer Oliver Bullied first worked with his ideas. Oliver Bulleid went on to be the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Southern Railway and although only 8 LNER Pacifics have been preserved, 30 plus Bulleids are in the hands of preservationists today. Many of these are still in service on mainlines or preserved railways.

This programme shows all those that have been working in the 21st century. Perhaps the most notable of which was the very first locomotive of the class which was ultimately rebuilt built by British Railways  35018 British India Line affectionately known as BIL.

After looking at the locomotives in their last service days in the 1960s we look in detail at each survivor over half a century further on.

Archive film, exclusively shot sequences coupled to an informative narration complete this fascinating story.