SR Merchant Navy Class 35009 Shaw Savill

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BR Merchant Navy Class No.35009 Shaw Savill is a rebuilt SR Merchant Navy Class Express 4-6-2. She was built at Eastleigh locomotive works in June 1942 as an air smoothed Spam Can was the were often called. She was designed by Oliver Bulleid. Between 1956 and 1960 when all of the Big Four Railways had been nationalized and standardization came in with the standard classes the Merchant Navy class was rebuilt into what we see today. Shaw Savill was withdrawn from service in September 1964 and arrived at what was thought to be its final resting place at Woodhams' Scrapyard. But Shaw Savill was lucky and whole sale scrapping of the engines did not take place there and so left out in the cold salty Welsh sea air she was left to rust in Dec 1964.

In preservation there are 11 Merchant navy class locomotives left in the world. None of which are in there air smoothed original form as every member of the class was rebuilt. 10 of the Merchant navy class were sent to Barry Scrapyard with Shaw Savill being one of them. Like many of the engines that had large numbers of the same class at Barry Scrapyard parts were removed by other groups for there own engines that they were restoring but Shaw Savill was spared some of the butchering that befell many other engines while it sat there awaiting a buyer.

Shaw Savill now lies dismantled and for sale by its current owner Ian Riley at Buckley Wells shed in Bury, with the boiler of it on a flat bed truck and the frames inside the shed after having some work done on them and corrosion from its stay at Barry removed. At one time it looked as if Ian Riley would restore her to her original un-rebuilt condition but after buying two LMS Black 5s and with work mounting at his works that repairs and overhauls and restores for that matter other peoples engines he found he did not have the time and so put the engine up for sale. It was quite recently on ebay with a reserve of a £100,000 and is still for sale with many hoping that she will find a good home someday in the future.