35011 General Steam Navigation, SR Merchant Navy Class
A preserved SR Merchant Navy Class 4-6-2 Pacific, built at Eastleigh Works in December 1944 as SR No. 21C11. Withdrawn from British Railways service in 1966. Rescued from Woodham Brothers' scrapyard at Barry, South Wales in 1988.
35011 General Steam Navigation is undergoing the remarkable project of restoration to original unrebuilt air-smoothed form — the only Merchant Navy being returned to the original Bulleid configuration that all thirty members of the class were built with before the BR rebuild programme of 1956–1960 removed it from every surviving example. Under restoration at the Swindon and Cricklade Railway.
Last recorded as under restoration at the Swindon and Cricklade Railway. Operating status: Under restoration. Current livery: Ex-Barry / new-build streamlined casing under construction.
Location, livery and operating status last confirmed pre-2024 and subject to change. Check with the owning organisation or heritage railway for current information.
Notable history
35011 General Steam Navigation was built at Eastleigh Works in December 1944 as SR No. 21C11, entering wartime service from Nine Elms. Withdrawn in 1966 and sent to Barry. Rescued from Barry in 1988, she was part of the same failed Brighton Railway Museum project as classmate 35009 Shaw Savill. She is now under restoration at the Swindon and Cricklade Railway with the unique and ambitious aim of returning the locomotive to its original pre-rebuild air-smoothed configuration — the only Merchant Navy being restored to the original Bulleid form that no surviving example retained.
Additional notes
Status last confirmed: 2024, under restoration to original streamlined form.
