The 30 locomotives of the class were all built at Eastleigh for express passenger duties on the Southern Railway and featured air-smooth casing and Bulleid’s revolutionary chain-driven valve gear. Entering service in February 1945 as No. 21C13, it was named ‘Blue Funnel’ after the well-known merchant shipping line in April of the same year. Allocations included Nine Elms, Bournemouth and Weymouth Radipole, before the locomotive finished its career in April 1967 back at Nine Elms. 

In May 1956, it became the third member of the class to be rebuilt under R.G. Jarvis, with conventional valve gear and the air-smooth casing removed. The model is finished in experimental BR express passenger blue with the BR number 35013, which was carried in the early years following Nationalisation.