Battle of Britain

Writing about gricing at Vauxhall yesterday reminded me of the pleasures of watching Bullied's 'Pacifics' working through there - Merchant Navy Class heavy Pacifics headed for Southampton, and the lighter West Country and Battle of Britain Pacifics which could be seen on expresses down to the East Kent coast and Dover.

To us gricers at the time these engines were collectively known as "spam cans" because of the shape of their distinctive streamlining. Later most had this casing removed and they were very elegant engines.

The "Battle of Britain" class all had names related to June 1940 - squadrons, airfields and other fighter aircraft related names. Here is 'Manston' passing Folkstone. Manston was the Spitfire airfield in East Kent. Actually it's still a familiar name to UK radio listeners because it's the name of a weather station used in the daily shipping forecasts too.