49395 was built at Crewe in June 1921, at a cost of £8,900, as LNWR number 485. Later it became LMS number 9395 before becoming 49395 under BR.
In 1928 it was fitted with a Belpaire boiler.
It ran with a LYR 8-wheel tender for a period during the 1930s.
BR motive power depot allocations since 1948.
| Date Arrived | Depot |
| January 1948 | Northampton |
| July 1948 | Nuneaton |
| August 1950 | Speke Junction |
| April 1957 | Buxton |
It was withdrawn from service in November 1959 after a failure that resulted in buckled valve gear and a cracked cylinder block. It was selected for preservation as a static exhibit and was never expected to run again.
It was then stored at Crewe Works until it was moved to Stratford around the end of 1964. It’s next move was to Leicester where it was stored in the Leicester Midland roundhouse. In 1967 it was on the basis that the locomotive would go on display at the museum that was then proposed to be built in Leicester. When the plans for the museum were scaled down 49395 joined other National Collection locomotives in store at Preston Park (Brighton) in September 1970.
In August 1972 when the plans for the Leicester museum were resuscitated 49395 moved back to Leicester where it was stored for another four years.
The locomotives next move was to an engineering works locomotive shed at Horsehay near Telford. It arrived there in February 1976 and it might then have been restored to operate on what became the Telford Steam Railway. This was not to be and in September 1981 49395 was moved a short distance to the Telford Industrial Museum at Blists Hill. Here it was on public display for the first time (26 years after being withdrawn from service) but no restoration took place.
The locomotive was thus becoming more derelict and this hulk was moved to Tyseley Locomotive Works in 1988 and then on to the Midland Railway Centre (now the Midland Railway) at Butterley in July 1990. By this stage the locomotive was considered largely beyond redemption.
In 1993 Pete Waterman offered to pay to restore the locomotive as he had fond memories of the class from his trainspotting days. 49395 was moved to the National Railway Museum at York in March 1993 and work finally started on restoring the locomotive.
The cylinders were successfully restored but the restoration stalled and the deal between the National Railway Museum and Waterman Railway Heritage Trust (the Pete Waterman organisation) was renegotiated in 1997. The result of the renegotiation was that the restoration was undertaken in the London & North Western Railway works at Crewe which Pete Watermen then owned.
49395 was returned to steam in July 2005 and made its first outing on the Churnet Valley Railway. Pete Waterman considers that it had cost him £700,000 to make this possible.
Since then in has operated on a number of heritage railways but was withdrawn from service on the East Lancashire Railway in January 2014 and placed in store at Bury. This followed it failing with leaking boiler tubes at the East Lancs Railway Winter Steam gala.
In March 2015 49395 was transported to Shildon was subsequently put on static display at Locomotion. It remains part of the National Collection.
Pete Waterman said in early 2014 that he has a deal with the National Railway Museum which gives him custody and control of 49395 for a further ten years and that he intends to have the locomotive running again. As of June 2015 no agreement between the National Railway Museum and Pete Waterman had been concluded as the latter said that the agreement he made for the previous ten years had not been sorted out.
| Home Base | Current Status | Owner |
| National Railway Museum – Locomotion Shildon | Static display | National Railway Museum
NRM Object Number{1978-7031} |
Preserved British Steam Locomotives 