The Lord Nelson Class has come to be viewed as an 'also ran' amongst
express locomotives and is largely overlooked for that reason. It had
the misfortune to be sandwiched on Southern metals between the classic
and much revered King Arthurs and Schools and by Bullied's controversial
Pacifics. In such company any design might suffer by comparison. And yet
when first appearing they attracted plaudits from railway professionals,
including the footplate crew, and the public alike. But with only 16
being built their impact was muted and any faults in their design were
magnified beyond their actual impact. In truth they deserved far better
than this and were, in fact sturdy, reliable performers that served the
company well on the heavy boat trains for which they were designed and
across their other passenger services for 30 years and more in peace and
war.
Much has been written about these locomotives but no story is ever
complete, with new information and photographs emerging to deepen our
understanding of them. This book provides an in depth view that
reexamines these impressive engines using, new material, eye witness
accounts, contemporary assessments and more than 200 photographs and
drawings.