Today’s mix is a potpourri of Southern Railway locomotives.  Photos are credited where I know the source.  As ever, apologies if I have missed the appropriate credits.

A perennial question.  Why has no one released an N gauge King Arthur.  Was there a more attractive example of a 4-6-0 express engine?  Beats all those GWR things hands down. (Last photo by Trever Owen).

There might be some votes for a Lord Nelson class, but great as they are, that maximum size boiler seems to mess up the lines of the loco a bit.  Rather like comparing GWR Castles and Kings, perhaps.  This photo is interesting as it has a 6-wheel tender rather than the 8-wheel water carts, that gave the locos a more balanced look, as in the second photo.

From an earlier age, the LSWR outside cylindered 4-4-0’s were the most elegant machines.  Here we have a T3 and an X6 class.

The smaller Southern 4-6-0’s also were fine machines that could be substituted for an ‘Arthur’ on occasion.  Here we have a couple of S15’s.  Note the differences between batches.  Added smoke deflectors, a straight footplate, and a Schools class tender on the later locomotive. 

That classic LSWR tank engine, the M7, at Bournemouth, Lymington, Midhurst and Nine Elms.  These locos looked antiquated, but were powerful enough to be used on empty stock services into Waterloo. 

An ugly ducking of a USA tank in departmental service at Southampton Docks.

Finally, a different kind of period piece.  Electrification 1922 style – the Euston to Watford line.  No track laying or ballast tamping machines to be seen here!