Elegance in Engineering showcases an interesting and diverse collection
of British-built steam locomotives from all builders, for railways at
home and abroad. These examples of British engineering at its best tell
the story of the development of the archetypal British steam locomotive
from the 1830s to the end of steam locomotive manufacture. Beauty may be
in the eye of the beholder and any selection of locomotives is bound to
be subjective, but nobody can deny that by comparison, locomotives built
overseas tended to be angular and austere. Maintenance staff would argue
that having many of their fittings on the outside made them easier to
look after but the purist would contest that it did not make them easier
on the eye.