Howard of Effingham 30864 Lord Nelson Class 4-6-0 with BEA Vickers Viscount flying overhead. Railway Steam Locomotive Aviation Art Print by Railway Artist Lee Lacey AGAvA
The early 1950s saw Britain at the forefront of the new jet technologies in aviation. No better example of this is the Vickers Viscount which has to be classed as the country's finest airliner of the post-war period.
It was also a time when Britain's luxury liners were very much the Queens of the Atlantic with the Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary and Mauretania II maintaining a superb and highly profitable service to the United States, despite growing competition from United States Lines especially. To link with the Southampton docks, the Southern Region of British Railways ran special 'Boat Trains' from Waterloo with Battle of Britain class pacifics and the Lord Nelson class being the favoured motive power.
This scene depicts Eastleigh shed at the time with a Viscount 700 Series of BEA climbing of Eastleigh Airport. The Viscount would not fly regular service from the airport until 1959 but were often flown there on test flights from the Hurne production line. The Lord Nelson class, 30864 'Howard of Effingham' is being prepared for the 'Cunarder' boat train.
