SR 603 Sqdn

Battle of Britain Class No. 34077 "603 Squadron" was one of the Bulleid Light Pacific locos designed and built at Brighton for the British Rail Southern Region in the post-war years and saw service until 1967 when steam was finally retired in favour of the new generation of diesel and electric locos. The Bulleid Pacifics originally appeared in an innovative streamlined guise (see photo), but this was later removed from most of them, including 603 Squadron. Other distinctive features include the oval smokebox door and the Bulleid Firth Brown (BFB) disc type driving wheels which were lighter than traditional spoked wheels and reputed to produce less wear on the track. I've used the 'rebuilt' version of 603 as it works better with the Steam Flyer. In tribute to our American friends, I'll shortly post a version of 601 Squadron, which was the squadron to which the first American airmen serving in the European theatre of WWII were posted.