Bulleid 21C1 Merchant Navy 1941 'Channel Packet'

Merchant Navy Class 4-6-2 Pacific. First Series, 21C1 'Channel Packet'

The first of Oliver Bulleid’s Merchant Navy class, 21C1 ‘Channel Packet’ was completed and named at Eastleigh on March 10th 1941. Over the next few months it underwent a series of modifications and it is this condition, circa May 1941, that the illustration depicts. Finished in matte malachite green with three yellow stripes, 21C1 together with 21C2 ‘Union Castle’ were unique in that they had cast gunmetal number and ownership plates on the side and front of the loco and on the side of the tender, together with an inverted horseshoe plate on the boiler door. Painted with yellow lettering on a red ground, later engines in the series retained only the boiler door plate as the steel plates were replaced with painted lettering and numerals to save weight. 

The first batch of 10 locomotives differed from second and third series of production runs. Most noticeable was the front of the air smoothed casing which projected into a ‘widow’s peak’ above the boiler door. This design was later replaced with the hood and smoke deflectors and all second and third series locomotives entered service with this arrangement. The first series also had a unique cab design with the bottom of the cab curving forward and a recessed cab window. Second series engines had a simpler design and third series engines had yet another design: the vee-fronted cab which aided visibility and smoke clearance. This was rolled out to all the locomotives in the class.

21C1 and 21C2 carried the air smoothed casing all the way to the lower level of the outside cylinders, curving round to line up with the bottom of the buffer beam. The other 8 engines in the first series had a slightly different design.

The matte green, air smoothed locomotives must have looked impressive during the bleak years of the early 1940s. Wartime austerity caught up with the engines though and all either had the wartime black paint repaint or entered service in this livery.

Attached to the 5,000 gallon tender, number: 3111, the tender also went through various modifications after the initial build was complete, at this point in time the vacuum hose is still in the high position on the rear buffers and no ladders have yet been fitted to the rear of the tender.The high raves are in place at this point, being part of the original Bulleid tender design.

After 1941, the First Series locos would undergo many rounds of modifications both to the loco and the tender, culminating in the rebuilds and removal of the ‘air smoothed’ casing in the 1950s.

Posters printed on 200gsm satin stock. Available in 3 sizes.

Every attempt is made to ensure the featured locomotive is accurate given the available references. Colours on the prints may look slightly different to their screen representations.