The Modified Bulleid Pacifics

Book excerpt: This British Railways history recounts the life of a controversial steam engine and its miraculous transformation at the hands of a brilliant engineer. As Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Southern Railway, Oliver Bulleid designed what were perhaps the most controversial steam locomotives ever built in Britain: the Pacifics. Loved and loathed in equal measure, the debate over their strengths and weaknesses took on a new dimension when British Railways decided to modify them in the 1950s. When noted engineer Ron Jarvis was charged with improving on Bulleid’s designs, he displayed a master’s touch, saving the best of Bulleid’s work while incorporating other established design principles. What emerged was described by Bert Spencer, Gresley’s talented assistant, as taking ‘a swan and creating a soaring eagle.’ This book explores all the elements of the lives of these Pacifics and their two designers. It draws on previously unpublished material to describe their gradual evolution, which didn’t start or finish with the 1950s major rebuilding program.