No. 850 Lord Nelson was the first of 16 ‘LN’ Lord Nelson Class locomotives built for the Southern Railway.  Lord Nelson was completed at Eastleigh Works in August 1926 at a cost of £9510.  The ‘LN’ Class were Chief Mechanical Engineer Richard Maunsell’s first new design for the Southern Railway.  The Class was designed to haul 500 ton trains between London Victoria and the Channel Ports at an average speed of 55mph.  Later the Lord Nelsons worked on the western section of the route to destinations such as Exeter, Salisbury and Bournemouth.  From 1953 the Lord Nelsons, including 850, were based at Eastleigh until the entire Class was withdrawn from service in 1962.

Destined to be the only survivor of its Class, 850 was selected for preservation and would eventually become part of the national collection.  Following withdrawal Lord Nelson spent time at several southern locations including The Pullman Works at Preston Park near Brighton.  It was from here that the National Railway Museum (NRM), the locomotive owners, allocated 850 to Steamtown Museum, Carnforth to haul a number of rail tours in the late 1970’s.  By 1997 Lord Nelson had been a static exhibit at Carnforth for many years and with decline of the museum a new home was needed.  

Following negotiations between the NRM and the Eastleigh Railway Preservation Society the locomotive was returned to its original home at Eastleigh.  At Eastleigh Lord Nelson was subject to a major overhaul to return to locomotive to main line running standard.  Lord Nelson was finally returned to steam on 17 May 2006 followed by a period of running in at the West Somerset Railway.  850 Lord Nelson returned to the main line on 31 March 2007.  Sadly, boiler problems in August 2007 forced the locomotive to be withdrawn for further repairs.  These repairs were undertaken by the NRM at York.  850 is currently undergoing trials at preserved railways in the UK before hopefully returning to further work on the main line.

(August 2008)