Tangmere fronts the Torquay Express

Battle of Britain class 34067 Tangmere in full steam at Dawlish, South Devon. She was doing duty as the Torquay Express in summer, 2008.

The prestigious Battle of Britain class locomotives were designed in 1945 by Oliver Bulleid for use across the entire Southern Railway from London to the Kent coast and as far west as Plymouth.

Named after the wartime RAF fighter station near Chichester, Tangmere was mainly used on trains between London and Kent until the 1960s. It then moved to Salisbury, where it spent the last few years of its active life heading trains between Exeter and London.

Many of the class were extensively rebuilt in the 1950s and lost their distinctive air-smoothed casing but Tangmere remains in its original form giving a glimpse of how impressive these machines would have looked in the difficult years after the Second World War.

Following a lengthy period in a south Wales scrapyard Tangmere has now been restored to immaculate condition and is the only member of its class currently active on railtours.

Many thanks to www.steamdreams.com for this information about Tangmere

Location: Dawlish, South Devon

Photographer: Anthony T Steel

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