Caledonian Railway locomotives

The Caledonian Railway connected Scotland's four major cities with the LNWR. at Carlisle. The Company was formed from several local companies, but the Anglo-Scottish route involved Government intervention, although this somewhat unusual activity at that time (and within the United Kingdom) was thwarted by the North British Railway which got to England on its own! At its height it must have been a very grand railway, but the rot began before WW1 when it failed to electrify its hugely expensive undergroud system and contemplate electrification to Carlisle. The locomotives, most of which were painted blue, were solidly built and many lasted until after Nationalization. The Stephenson Locomotive Society and J.F. McEwan have produced thorough histories of the locomotive stock.

General works

Cornwell, H.J. Campbell. Forty years of Caledonian locomotives, 1882-1922. Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1974.
Dunbar, A.G. Latter-day Caledonian locomotive design. Trains ill, 1956, 9, 540-5.9 illus.
Essery, Bob and Jenkinson, David. An illustrated history of LMS locomotives. Volume 3. Absorbed pre-group classes Northern Division. 1986. 420 illus.
Excellent extended captions: especially good on former Glasgow & South Western Railway locomotives. Plates 164-8 show Brittain outside-cylinder 0-4-2 tender locomotives: plate 167 shows one of these locomotives with a four-wheel tender. Plates 169 and 170 show LMS 17101 and 17102 which were former Solway Junction Railway 0-6-0s..
Historical Model Railway Society. The Caledonian Railway: locomotives, 1883-1923 [cover-title] . London, HMRS., [196 ]. 17 p. + 4 plates (incl. 1 double col.). 6 diagrs. Bibliog.(Livery register, No.1)
McEwan, James. Locomotives of the Caledonian Railway. Loco. Rly Carr. Wagon Rev., 1940, 46,150-3;
204-7;
256-8;
293-4:
1941, 47, 12-14: includes dummy crank shaft locomotives Nos. 136-143, some of which were altered to 0-4-0 and 0-4-2ST
37-8:
61-4: 2-2-2
77-9: Pollok & Govan Railway and Wishaw & Coltness Railway.
107-9: Trader's locomotives.
122-5: Benjamin Connor.
154-6.
171-4.
200-2.
208-10.
231-4..
250-2.
48, 33-7: SCR No, 7 with Alexander Allan on footplate.
73-6.
107-10: SCR  2-2-2
139-41.
173-5.Earl of Airlie.
207-8.Dundee & Perth and Dundee & Arbroath Railways.
1943, 49, 39-41.: Dundee & Arbroath and Arbroath & Forfar Railways.
68-70.Scottish Midland Junction Railway and Aberdeen Railway.
106-8.
Aberdeen Railway: locomotives from Dundee: K'mond & Steel, Gourlay, Mudie and Blackie
140-1: Aberdeen Railway
170-2: Scottish North Eastern: boiler explosion: illus. of No. 48 at Bridgr of Dunn in 1869.
1944, 50, 4-6: SNER 0-4-2 1859-1866 (table).
35-7: SNER 0-4-2T and 2-2-2
71-3: 2-4-0
101-3: Class 98 2-4-0
142-6: 0-4-2 tender
177-8: 2-4-0
1945, 51, 7-10;
38-9;
74-5;
117-19;
135-6:
1946, 52, 13-15;
41-3;
61-2;
101-4;
135-7;
183-4:
1947, 53, 24-5;
55-7;
90-2;
144-6; 177-8;
193-5:
1948, 54, 41-4;
73-5;
94-6.
Total 160 illus., (incl. 60 line drawings: s. el.), 4 diagrs., 2 tables, map.
MacLeod, A.B. The McIntosh locomotives of the Caledonian Railway, 1895-1914. London, Ian Allan, 1948. 48 p. 44 illus. (Famous locomotive types, No.2).
Illustrations with concise notes on each type. Also acknowledges McEwan
Nock, O.S. The Caledonian Railway. London, Ian Allan, [1962] . 190pp. + col. front.
On page 53 Nock refers to a "remarkably comprehensive series of articles in The Locomotive Magazine, by J.F. McEwan, commencing in June 1940, and running for 8 years – truly a monumental work!"
Stephenson Locomotive Society. Caledonian Railway Centenary (1847-1947); edited by L.R. Tomsett. London: SLS, 1947. 76pp. incl. 32 plates + front. + 5 folding plates. 71 illus., 3 diagrs., 6 plans, map.
Thomas, J. The Springburn story: the history of the Scottish railway metropolis. Dawlish (Devon): David & Charles, 1964. 260 p. incl. front. & 20 plates. 46 illus. (incl 4 ports.), 4 diagrs., map. Bibliog.
For history of St. Rollox Works.

Glasgow, Paisley & Greenock Railway

Lowe, James W. British steam locomotive builders. Cambridge: Goose, 1975. 705pp.
Lowe notes that  Robert Sinclair was the Locomotive Superintendent and three 2-2-2s were constructed at Greenock before the railway was amalgamated into the CR. Locomotive construction continued at Greenock until 1855 when this activity was transferred to St Rollox.

Scottish Central Railway

0-4-2

Alexander Allan

Clark, D.K.. Railway locomotives. 1860
Plate 40 illustrates an outside-cylinder locomotive, but not one of the typical Crewe-type.

4-2-2 No. 123

Atkins, Philip. Locos from scratch. Rly Mag, 1989, 135, 516-17.
Locomotives built within a limited time scale: in February 1878 Crewe Works constructed a Webb Coal Engine in 25½ hours and in December 1891 Stratford Works constructed another 0-6-0 No. 930 within ten hours. These have a sort of Olympic Games quality. Technically more interesting was the output of new designs within a very limited period: the Author cites the 4-2-2 constructed by Neilsons for the Edinburgh International Exhibition in 1886; the supply of five 4-4-2s by Beyer Peacock to the Great Central Railway in 1904; the supply of fifty Highland Castle type 4-6-0s to the French State Railways by NBL in 1910. The design and construction of two British classes (the Royal Scot and the A4 Pacifics) are also considered in some detail.

2-2-2

Early passenger locomotives, Caledonian Ry. Loco. Rly Carr. Wagon Rev., 1910, 16, 254.
Nos 10-19 supplied by Vulcan Foundry. Notes influence of Alexander Allan.

4-4-0T

Smith, John W. Letter. Loco. Rly Carr. Wagon Rev., 1943, 49, 142.
Both Lambie and NBR types and their workings.

2-4-2T: Neilson: 1880
Ahrons notes that the loan of a Webb 2-4-2T for evaluation on the Callander & Oban line led to an order for fifteen similar locomotives from Neilson. These were found to be unsteady in service.

Drummond locomotives

0-6-0
294 class (Jumbos): 1883-7
Cornwell (pp. 18-22) argues that the class owed much to Stroudley design, notably the conical pistons and cylinder covers. The tender was a "pure Stroudley design". The first batch was supplied by Neilson WN 3043-57/1883-4; running numbers 294-308. Nos. 349-54 were constructed at St. Rollox.  Neilson supplied twenty further locomotives: WN 3251-71/1884 which were given running numbers 517-26/680-9. Further batches were manufactured at St. Rollox until 1887.

4-4-0
66 class: 1884
These shared the cylinders and boiler of the 294 class. According to Middlemass these were improved 476 Abbotsfords (a Drummond design for the NBR). They were fitted with Adams bogies. Neilson WN 3058-67/1884 became Nos. 66-75. Numbers 60-5 were constructed at St. Rollox. They enabled Anglo-Scottish services to be accelerated. Cornwell (pp. 22-4).
Middlemass, Thomas. The Scottish 4-4-0. 1994.

124: Dubs: 1886
Like No. 123, No. 124 was constructed for the Edinburgh International Exhibition of 1886, and like it won a Gold Medal. It was a modified version of the 66 class: the main innovation was its use of Bryce-Douglas valve gear The gear was not successful in service and was replaced by Stephenson link motion in 1887 in which form it was a star performer on Beattock bank (Cornwell reproduces a log). In 1890 it was named Eglinton and was a star performer on the Arran boat trains to Ardrossan.

80 class (Coast Bogies): 1888
Built for Greenock to Glasgow boat trains. They had small boilers (only 16.75ft² grate area) but were fitted with Jumbo type cylinders. They also featured items fitted to No. 123: vortex blastpipes, compressed air sanding and steel frames. Middlemass suggests that they were constructed in response to Smellie's 4-4-0s on the GSWR.

2-2-2
123: Neilson: 1886
No. 123 is a unique locomotive with its own rich literature: Cornwell provides a very succinct account and reproduced part of Edward Snowball's letter which appeared in Engineering which claimed that the design was developed at Neilson: WN 3553. It was constructed, alongside No. 124, a 4-4-0 from Dubs, for the Edinburgh International Exhibition of 1886 (where it won a Gold Medal). Cornwell does note the standard Caledonian features which were incorporated, however. More original features included steel frames, Holt's compressed air sanding and an Adams' vortex blastpipe. Withdrawn and preserved by LMS in 1935. The locomotive is still extant, but is poorly displayed in its Kelvingrove store in Glasgow.

[Detailed drawings]. Engineer, 1886 (27 August) p. 168.
reproduced Fryer
[Performance Carlisle to Edinburgh on 9 August 1888]. Engineer, 1891 (13 March) p. 201
reproduced Fryer
Fryer, Charles. Single wheeler locomotives. 1993. Chapter 6
Far more revelaing material about design written elsewhere
Nock, O.S. Historical steam locomotives. 1959. Chapter 6 Four famous 4-2-2 singles.
123 included

Tank engines

0-6-0ST
323 class: Jubilee Pugs: 1887-90
Baxter called this the 323 class (Chacksfield illustrates one as the "385 class" which is presumably what they became when No, 323 was renumbered. They were distinctly un-Drummond looking with their Stirling type cabs which may have been fitted to pass through some restricted headroom (but no illustration shows a member of the class with reduced height chimney or safety valves). Class eventually reached a total of 30. Cornwell pp. 40-1.

0-4-4T
171 class: 1884-6
Derived from NBR R class 4-4-0T. Nos. 171-6 built in 1884 and Nos. 177-8 and 228-31 in 1886. Worked services to Balerno and on other light branch lines.

0-4-2ST
262 class: 1885
Similar to 264 class, but with trailing truck: intended for working Killin branch.
Elton, Michael S. Killin village railway. Bactrack, 2000, 14, 624-32.
Notes that the two locomotives were unsuitable for working the Killin branch.

0-4-0ST
264 class: 1885
Ordered with 262 class: dock shunting locomotives developed from Neilson design. Nos. 264-71. McIntosh added ro the class in 1895; 1900; 1902 and 1908. MacLeod lists this as these as the 611 class..

McIntosh locomotives
The McIntosh locomotives were well-known and included the famous Dunalastair 4-4-0 and Cardean 4-6-0 types as well as rugged 0-6-0s and 0-4-4Ts. The outline is based upon MacLeod.

0-8-0
600 class: 1901/3
Eight locomotives were constructed to work coal traffic in Lanarkshire. They had 4ft 6in coupled wheels with special joints in the coupling rods to provide flexibility and 21 x 26in cylinders. They could haul 60 loaded wagons and were introduced together with 30 ton high capacity bogie wagons fitted with Westinghouse brakes. In 1904 several of the class were employed Buffalo Bill specials between Stranraer and Carlisle. MacLeod.

4-6-0.
55 class: Oban bogies: 1902/5
Two batches Nos. 55-9 in 1902 and 51-4 in 1905. They had 5ft coupled wheels and 19 x 26in cylinders MacLeod..
Atkins, Philip. Horses for courses. Backtrack, 1989, 3, 202-5.
Each of the three types (one 4-4-0, and two 4-6-0s) specifically designed for the Callander & Oban line are briefly surveyed.

49 class: Sir James Thompson class: 1903
Two locomotives; Nos. 49 and 50 Sir James Thompson. 6ft 6in coupled wheels. 21 x 26in cylinders. When constructed these were the most powerful express locomotives in Britain and were intended for the main Glasgow to Carlisle mainline MacLeod..

903 class or Cardean: 1906
Five locomotives including No. 903 Cardean: 6ft 6in coupled wheels. 20 x 26in cylinders MacLeod..

918 class: 1906
Five locomotives: 918-22. 5ft coupled wheels. 19 x 26in cylinders MacLeod.

908 or Sir James King class: 1906
Developed from 903 class, but with shorter boiler and smaller (5ft 9in) driving wheels. 19 x 26 in cylinders. Two received names: 909 Sir James King and 911 Barochan. Total ten locomotives. MacLeod..

McIntosh 4-6-0 No. 917. Loco. Rly Carr. Wagon Rev., 1910, 16, 2.
inside cylinders: 5ft 9in coupled wheels.

179 class: 1913-14
Intended for express freight: fitted with piston valves and superheaters. Total eleven locomotives: Nos. 179-89. 19½ x 26in cylinders. 5ft 9in coupled wheels. Side window cabs. MacLeod..

2-6-0
34 class: 1912
This was clearly an 0-6-0 with an added pony truck to bear the weight of the piston valves and superheater. The five locomotives had 5ft coupled wheels and 19½ x 26in cylinders. MacLeod.. It is worth remembering that the Churchward 43XX and Gresley K1 designs were contemporary with this rather feeble effort.

0-6-0
709 class: 1895-7
Painted in passenger blue livery and fitted with Westinghouse brake: they were regarded as mixed traffic locomotives. They had 5ft coupled wheels and 18 x 26in cylinders. Five were fitted with condensing apparatus for operating on the Glasgow underground section: see class 92 0-4-4Ts for Cox's observations on air quality at Glasgow Central Low Level.. Total 83 locomotives.. MacLeod...

812 class: 1899-1900
Enlarged version of 709 class fitted with 721 class boiler and slightly larger (18½ x26in cylinders). The first 17 locomotives were fitted with Westinghouse brakes and could work passenger trains, but the remainder were fitted solely with steam brakes an were confined to freight haulage. Nos. 285 and 292 were fitted with the Holden system of oil firing during the 1912 Coal Strike. Many were supplied by outside builders. . MacLeod.
829-838 Neilson 5613-5622/1899
839-848 Neilson 5623-5632/1900
849-863 Sharp Stewart 4634-4648/1900
864-878 Dubs 3880-3894/1900

652 class: 1908-09
Virtually identical to 812 class, except that cab was based on that fitted to 900 class. 17 locomotives: Nos.: 652-4; 656-9; 662-5; 325-8; 423 and 460.  No. 664 was first locomotive to be fitted with McIntosh spark arrestor.

30 class: 1912
Regarded as mixed ttraffiic locomotives. Fitted with Schmidt superheaters and piston valves. 19½ x26in cylinders. Only four locomotives built: Nos. 30-3. 

4-4-0
Dunalastair: 1896-1914
"Few there are who lay any claims to an interest in British locomotive engineering who have not heard of the celebrated Caledonian engine No. 721, 'Dunalastair'. Poultney devoted a whole chapter to this important design which was devloped from the Drummond and Lambie designs working on the Caledonian, but with much larger boilers which steamed well. The class developed as follows:
721 Dunalastair I: 1896.
766 Dunalastair II: 1897
900 Dunalastair III: 1899
140 Dunalastair IV: 1904
139 superheated Dunalastair IV: 1910: first superheated locomotive in Scotland
Middlemass, Thomas. The Scottish 4-4-0. 1994.
Nock, O.S. The Caledonian Dunalastairs and associated classes. Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1968. 159pp.
Poultney, Edward Cecil. British express locomotive development, 1896-1948. London: Allen & Unwin, 1952. 174pp.

Weir feedwater heater fitted to 140 class No. 136
Atkinson, T.G. Feed-water heating on locomotives. J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1933, 23, 402. (Paper No. 302)
On page 402 in response to Dobbie it was noted that a Weir feedwater heater had been fitted to CR No. 136 and was tested between Carlisle and Glasgow, but the results were inconclusive. Cornwell muddies the issue by stating that two different Weir systems were tested: one in 1913 (removed 1915) and another in 1920.. .

Tank engines

0-8-0T
492 class: 1903-4
Constructed for heavy shunting and banking duties and fitted with Westinghouse brakes for working with 30 ton bogie mineral wagons. Six locomotives which workedd at Hamilton, Motherwell and Dundee. MacLeod..

0-6-0T
29 class: 1895
Essentially a Lambie design, but with McIntosh modifications, Their leading dimensions were similar to the Lambie 0-6-0STs, but modified with side tanks. They were fitted with condensing apparatus for working the Glasgow Central Railway and with the Westinghouse brake. Nine locomotives: No. 29 and 203-210. MacLeod..

782 class: 1898-1913
Standard shunting locomotive: total 120 engines. Some locomotives given next available numbers, but some renumbered in 1919 and 1922. MacLeod..

498 class: 1911
Outside cylinder (17 x 22in) 0-6-0T with 4ft coupled wheels designed to operate on sharply curved lines in docks. Only two built under McIntosh (Nos. 498 and 499). but Pickersgill built a further 21 of the type between 1915 and 1922. MacLeod..

0-4-4T
19 class: 1895
The design was broadly similar to Lambie's 4-4-0T. They had 5ft 9in coupled wheels, 18 x 26in cylinders and a total heating surface of 1095.76ft². The ten locomotives (Nos. 19-28) were fitted with condensing apparatus for working the Glasgow Central Railway.

92 class: 1897-1900
Very similar to the 19 class, but with increased water capacity. Similarly fitted with condensing apparatus. Nos 92-103 were also fitted with Westinghouse hot water feed pumps. Total 22. Cox (Chronicles of steam) had personal experience of the Glasgow Underground lines: "My uncle lived on one of the routes served by the Caledonian from Central Low Level Station, and how can I forget the descent from the lofty and in those days immaculate spaces of the main-line station into the murky depths of this steam-operated underground. A permanent woolly pall of steam clung under the low roof on the platforms whence drops of dirty moisture descended upon the waiting passengers; 0-4-4 condensing Tank engines rather sensibly painted black operated the service, and freight trains of which there were plenty passing from east to west under the city also sported 0-6-0 tender engines on which a long and rather battered looking copper pipe was supposed to convey the exhaust steam into the tender tank during the transit of the tunnels Whatever may have been the practice in earlier times, by the period of World War I condensing was undertaken as much in the breach as the observance, and so heavy became the through mineral workings that non-condensing engines had to be freely used. Conditions underground were really rather frightful but how fascinating it all was and to the best of my knowledge this inferno continued unabated into quite recent times": KPJ encountered the Stygian gloom of Glasgow Central Low Level when using the steam-worked services in the late 1950s..

439 class: 1900-1914
68 standard locomotives used throughout the system. Several were allocated to Beattock to act as bankers, and these were fitted with additional cast iron buffer beams.

104 class: 1899
The coupled wheels were smaller: 4ft 6in and the cylinders were 17 x 24in. The boiler was identical to that used on the 782 class. They were intended to operate trains on the Cathcart Circle (with very frequent stops and sharp gradients) and the Balerno branch (with very sharp curves). Total 12 locomotves.

Proposed designs
4-6-2
Barnes, R.  Locomotives that never were: some 20th century British projects. London: Jane's, 1985. 96pp.
Very much in the style of The Great Bear and the Raven Pacifics. Barnes cited C.J. Allen's British Pacific locomotives.
Dunbar, A.G. A McIntosh Pacific design. Trains Ill., 1958, 11, 491-2. diagr. (s.el.).
The design would have had four 16 x 26in cylinders, 6ft 6in coupled wheels and a grate area of 37ft².

Pickersgill designs

4-6-0
60 class: 1916-
These outside-cylinder 4-6-0s are generally regarded as disappointing in terms of performance and Cornwell cited at article in The Engineer, 1920, 15 October in support. Cornwell also included an end elevation on p. 168.

Atkins, P. West coast 4-6-0s at work. 1981. Chap. 10. From 4-4-2 to 4-6-2 at St Rollox.
The Pickersgill 60 class 4-6-0 is included, especially the Preston to Carlisle tests against a Prince of Wales class 4-6-0 in 1925/6. The load was 350 tons. The coal consumed was (lb/dbhp) 4.84 for the Class 60 and 5.05 for the Prince of Wales, and in terms of lb/mile: 51.55 vs 48.3. The oil consumed by the class 60 was very high.
The LAST of the Caledonian "60" class. J. Stephenson Loco.Soc., 1954, 30, 157; 160.illus.
Newlands, D. The Caley "60" class. J. Stephenson Loco. Soc., 1946, 22,138-41. illus. (line drawing s. el.)

956 class: 1921
Pickersgill three cylinder 4-6-0: Lowe (page 101) called them "extremely disappointing locomotives" and added "there is an engineers adage 'if it looks right — it is right' but these engines must have been the exception

Atkins, P. West coast 4-6-0s at work. 1981. Chap. 10. From 4-4-2 to 4-6-2 at St Rollox.
The class 956 (3-cylinder 4-6-0 with conjugated valve gear) is considered at somewhat greater length than the class 60, but the illustrations are not very good: the best is separated greatly from the Chapter and is on p. 9. Atkins considers that George Kerr was responsible for the design, especially the conjugated valve gear. Graeme [G.R.M.] Miller informed Atkins that the substitution of Stephenson link motion for the inside cylinder was due to the very high reciprocating mass of the derived gear. The derived moion was modified with dashpots which led to an extraordinary sound. Atkins argues that in this final form the class was the only one to enter the LMS which combined long travel with long lap, but the performance of the class was limited: 24,000 miles/year as against 32,000 miles for the class 60.
Cox, E.S. Chronicles of steam. 1967. page 170.
"The first time I found myself hauled by one of the ' 956 ' class of 3-cylinders 4-6-0's I could not believe what my ears told me was happening up front, and when, in due course, this cacaphony with its attendant ills was too grievous to be borne due to the erratic behaviour of the conjugated gear, the effect of the introduction of a separate Stephenson valve gear for the inside cylinder having variable lead, together with retention of the outside Walschaert valve gears having fixed lead, could only produce results at which the mind was bound to boggle".
Kermack, W.L.  The modern passenger locomotive. J. Instn Loco. Engrs. ,1922, 12, 210-22. Disc.: 223-7. (Paper No. 118)
Noted the CR 3-cylinder design.
Scott, J.I. discussion on Cocks, C.S. History of Southern Railway locomotives to 1938. J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1948, 38, 833. (Paper No. 481)
Reference to conjugated valve gears on pp. 781-2 cited Shields' review of locomotive valve gears (Paper No. 443) and its mention of Pickering's adoption of dashpots on his brief attempt to exploit conjugated gears and observed that the aircraft industry had enhanced the design of dashpots.

191 class: NBL: 1922: LMS 3P (Oban bogies)
The class was a purely Caledonian product, but was not described in the technical press until 1923.

4-6-0 passenger locomotive, L.M. & S.R. (Caledonian Section). Loco. Rly Carr. Wagon Rev., 1923, 29, 305 + folding plate.diagr. (s. el.)
LONDON, Midland and Scottish Ry., Caledonian Section : new 4-6-0 engines for the Oban line. Loco. Rly Carr. Wagon Rev., 1923, 29, 96. illus.

0-4-4T

Marshall, A.N. The Caledonian 0-4-4 tanks. [Thirties File — a wrong righted]. Br. Rlys Ill., 1992/3, 2, 70-4.

Mainly the 439 class, some of which were constructed after the Grouping, and one (15264) was sent south in 1926 and evaluated on St Pancras suburban services. Illus.: 15264 on Bedford shed in 1926; 15130 on Manningham shed in c1946; 15227 at Leeds City on 16 August 1947

0-4-4T: modifications to pre-grouping designs. Caledonian Railway

2P: 1925: Fowler/Mclntosh:
This class departed only slightly from the McIntosh "439" design, introduced in 1900. The post-grouping version was, however, heavier.

NEW tank engines for passenger traffic, London, Midland & Scottish Ry., Northern Division. Loco. Rly Carr. Wagon Rev., 1926, 32, 45. illus.

4-6-0

Rous-Marten, Charles British locomotive practice and performance. Rly Mag., 1903, 13, 124-31.
Describes journeys made between Carlisle and Glasgow and back behind McIntosh 4-6-0s Nos. 59 and 60. Neither of the northbound journeys was noteworthy: a problem with dampers was the explanation of the slow progress on the first and on the second a banker was provided from Beattock. The southbound journeys were better.

4P ("60" class) : 1925 Hughes/Pickersgill : Whilst G. Hughes was C.M .E. the former Caledonian Section retained some autonomy under John Barr, the Motive Power Superintendent for the Scottish Division. As a result of his requests, twenty.of a modified version of the Pickersgill "60" class were introduced in 1925. Further McIntosh 0-4-4Ts were also added at this time.


4P ("55" class) :1932: McIntosh 4-6-0s Nos. 14606 and 14607 were equipped with "918" class boilers and cabs for operating on the Oban line. This is recorded in an un-titled reference: Loco. Rly Carr. Wagon Rev., 1932,38,75.

4-4-0

66 class: Drummond: 1884, modified 1889 and 1891

Nock (Caledonian Dunalastairs) notes that Drummond aimed to secure fully expansive working from a wide-open regulator and short cut-offs, thereby obviating any need to resort to compounding. But the use of a high boiler pressure alone was not enough to ensure the economical use of steam in the cylinders, and Drummond gave particular attention to the ports and slide valves.

Crank axles

On 17 April 1908 a Caledonian engine failed at Larkfield due to the fracturing of a crank axle after-running 147,574 miles. On 2 February 1909 there was a similar failure for the same reason at Merchiston. Both axles had broken at the sharp angle between the journal and the wheel seat. For a period in between those two — from 26 August until 2 October—No. 903, Cardean, was in St Rollox undergoing heavy repairs. During the course of these repairs the engine was stripped down to the wheels, and the wheels were turned and inspected. There was no sign of any flaw in any exposed surface, but the wheels were not removed from their axles, and the wheel seats, therefore, could not be inspected.

No. 903's crank axle was similar to that which had failed, and to that which was to fail later. On one end was stamped the figure '99', indicating that the wheel had been pressed on the axle at a pressure of 99 tons or 11.64 tons per in. of diameter. Further, the wheels were keyed to the axle by pins 6 in. long by 1 in. in diameter driven in from the face of the wheel. Manufacturer's markings on the other side of the axle indicated that it was No. 1,174 supplied by John Spencer and Sons Ltd, of Newburn Street Works, Newcastle, that the metal used was of a particular quality, and that the axle had a breaking load of 31.94 tons per sq. in. Before the manufacture of the axle had begun a Caledonian engineer had visited the Newcastle works and tested a sample of the metal to be used, and a further sample was sent to St Rollox for addi tional tests. All tests proved satisfactory. The crank axle for Cardean was made and delivered with the guarantee that Spencer would replace it if it failed before it had run 200,000 miles.

Abington incident

Cardean was outshopped at the end of October and took up its traditional duties on the 2 p.m. 'Corridor'. The winter passed without incident. Then shortly after 9 o'clock on the evening of 2 April 1909 No. 903 breasted Beattock with the down 'Corridor', shed the banker and started on the swift descent of the Clyde valley. By the time Crawford slipped rapidly past, crank axle No. 1,174 had run 145,388 miles, and it had one more miles of life left in it. With the speed mount ing into the sixties Cardean gave a sudden ferocious lurch that snapped the coupling between engine and tender. The driver and fireman were dismayed to see tender and train drift back into the darkness while Cardean, tenderless, ran on. When the engine eventually stopped a quick inspection showed that it was still on the rails all wheels except one. The left hand leading driver was missing, the coupling rod broken, the frame bent and the brake gear and reversing rod destroyed. Of the train there was no sign.

Passengers in the train became aware that something was amiss when there was an uncomfortably rapid application of the brakes. In the brief space of 250 yards the speed of the 'Corridor' was reduced from something above 60 m.p.h. to zero. In the process of this rapid deceleration the train split in two between the fourth and fifth coaches and when the severed portions came to rest there was a gap of twenty yards between them. Some of the vehicles ran off the rails to the left and were guided to a more or less gentle stop by the soft earth embankment, while others were derailed to the right and blocked the up line.

The Cardean incident had all the making of a major disaster—a heavy express travelling downhill at high spee4. derailed, and part of the wreckage thrown on to the up line over which a freight train was due to pass within minutes. The night was dark and the nearest signal box was a mile away. There was no disaster because all the railwaymen in volved did the right thing that night and did it promptly. The leading guard of the 'Corridor', when he went forward to investigate, was surprised to find a tender but no engine or crew at the head end. He placed detonators on the up line at the regulation distances from the obstruction and took up post with his lamp ready to stop any approaching train.

Meanwhile, an up goods was standing at Abington, the first station to the north, ready to proceed. Harry Browning the signalman held it, for the 'Corridor' had been ten minutes in section and there was no sign of it. Browning was apprehensive. A less intelligent signalman might have let the goods go with possibly disastrous consequences. At 9.55 the fireman of the 'Corridor' reached Abington on foot, and reported the obstruction. Investigation revealed that Cardean's crank axle had broken. There was damage to the track where the fracture took place which continued for about 500 yards. The missing driving wheel was found leaning against the boundary fence, having run like a child's hoop up the shallow bank and struck the fence, partly destroying it.

The Caledonian's most publicised locomotive had failed, and the company's prestige train had escaped disaster by a hairsbreadth. There was consternation at St Rollox. McIntosh organised a series of intensive tests of the metal from which the crank axle was made. Chemical tests were carried out in the laboratories of the Steel Company of Scotland with borings sent from St Rollox. The Glasgow & West of Scotland Technical College conducted microscopic examinations of metal fragments. Reports from the various sources were col lated and by 28 April McIntosh knew what had happened. When samples of the metal were tested to destruction the resulting fracture was seen to be brittle. The chemical tests showed that the metal had a high carbon content and there was present foreign matter likely to create weak spots that would give way under stress. A fascinating series of micro- photographs actually revealed the brittle structure of the metal, a condition resulting from over-heating or incomplete mechanical treatment. The report concluded: 'The axle has been made of inferior metal which had been left in an over heated condition and suffered from fatigue in use.'

When the summary of railway accident statistics for 1909 was published the Board of Trade congratulated the British railways on the reduction in the number of accidents due to axle failures. There had been 101 such failures during the year, and of these 46 had been failures of crank axles.

Thomas Springburn story

4-4-0

Class 900 (6ft 6in)

Rous-Marten, Charles British locomotive practice and performance. Rly Mag., 1902, 11, 164-71.
Fast runs from Strawfrank Junction to Carlisle behind No. 899 (56.5 mile/h) and 896 (58.1 mile/h).

0-6-0ST

272 class

Drummond 1888: six coupled version of 264 class 0-4-0ST. Illustrated in plates 132 and 133: No. 16100 (both sides of same locomotive).

486 class: Brittain 1881. CR No. 1489; scapped in 1927 without receivin No. 16150.

0-4-0ST

Essery, Bob and Jenkinson, David. An illustrated history of LMS locomotives. Volume 3. Absorbed pre-group classes Northern Division. 1986. 420 illus.
Allthough limited to those locomotives which became LMS stock the range is still relatively broad and includes CR No. 781 (intended to be LMS 16000) which had been acquired in lieu of debt payment: it was a standard Andrew Barclay product. The well-known CR pugs were preceded by CR 446 class (Dubs 1873, originally 0-4-0T and rebuilt as 0-4-0ST in 1890) which became LMS 16001-2, and CR 502 class (Neilson 1876-81). The latter had consisted of fourteen locomotives, but only five entered LMS stock.

Atkins, P. West coast 4-6-0s at work. 1981. Chap. 10. From 4-4-2 to 4-6-2 at St Rollox.
As is clear from the Chapter title most of the locomotives described were unfulfilled projects. In 1901 McIntosh planned a 4-4-2 but this emerged as a 4-6-0: the 49 class. In 1905 there was a further scheme for a 4-cylinder de Glehn type compound, but this abandoned in favour of an inside cylinder 4-4-2 which in turn led to the 903 class.
No. 903 was involved in a accident near Crawford on 2 April 1909 which the Board of Trade Report stated was due to crank axle failure. This led to an unfulfilled project for an outside-cylinder 4-6-0.
In 1913 a 4-cylinder 4-6-2 was planned, initially with a narrow firebox limited tpo 27ft², but later expanded to a semi-wide design of 37ft².
The Pickersgill 60 class 4-6-0 is considered, especially the Preston to Carlisle tests against a Prince of Wales class 4-6-0 in 1925/6. The load was 350 tons. The coal consumed was (lb/dbhp) 4.84 for the Class 60 and 5.05 for the Prince of Wales, and in terms of lb/mile: 51.55 vs 48.3. The oil consumed by the class 60 was very high.
The class 956 (3-cylinder 4-6-0 with conjugated valve gear) is considered at somewhat greater length than the class 60, but the illustrations are not very good: the best is separated greatly from the Chapter and is on p. 9. Atkins considers that George Kerr was responsible for the design, especially the conjugated valve gear. Graeme [G.R.M.] Miller informed Atkins that the substitution of Stephenson link motion for the inside cylinder was due to the very high reciprocating mass of the derived gear. The derived moion was modifgied with dashpots which led to an extraordinary sound. Atkins argues that in this final form the class was the only one to enter the LMS which combined long travel with long lap, but the performance of the class was limited: 24,000 miles/year as against 32,000 miles for the class 60.

could be spent at Central Station, Glasgow, or on the draughty platforms of Buchanan Street, where standardisation was clearly only thought of as strictly for the birds, and where the engine backing down on to its train might be anything from a massive 3--cylinder 4-6-0 to a ' Lambie' 4-4-0, where batches of o-6-o's were arrayed in passenger blue and acted accordingly as on the Clyde Coast trains, or where if one was lucky one might even see one of the legendary' River' class 4-6-0's which the Caley had bought from the Highland, and on which one gazed in awful fascination as the only locomotives in Great Britain which had gained their designer the sack!

Before I became a locomotive engineer and viewed these machines with the seeing eye which technical training and practice could give, it was unimaginable that these same locomotives, so beautiful and in such glorious variety could be in any way inferior. Yet as a previous chapter has shown they one and all sported an unmatched appetite for coal. Their big ends were tricky to say the least, and to see David Gibson, that doyen of Caledonian enginemen, doctoring the connecting rods of 14630 with his own personal concoction of oils during the 1926 trials was to realise how little St. Rollox had mastered the art of bearing design and construction. The first time I found myself hauled by one of the ' 956 ' class of 3-cylinders 4-6-0's I could not believe what my ears told me was happening up front, and when, in due course, this cacaphony with its attendant ills was too grievous to be borne due to the erratic behaviour of the conjugated gear, the effect of the introduction of a separate Stephenson valve gear for the inside cylinder having variable lead, together with retention of the outside Walschaert valve gears having fixed lead, could only produce results at which the mind was bound to boggle.

Yet again, the luckless Pickersgill 4-4-0's Nos. 97 and 124 had to retire defeated from the Leeds to Carlisle tests in 1924. I am not prepared to say whether anyone actually saw flame coming from the chimney tops of these over-driven engines, but from their condition after this unnerving experience it would not have been a matter for much surprise had such been the case. Moreover, when a McIntosh 0-4-4 Tank exchanged the comparative peace of the Cathcart Circle for the bustle of a St. Albans first stop on the fast St. Pancras to Luton schedules, it was quickly sent packing home again with the compliments of the Midland Division. It was with a positive distaste that I had to admit in the fulness of time that these heroes of my younger days were indeed possessed of feet of clay in the engineering sense. I must admit to being quite unrepentant, however, in my life-long admiration for their unmatched and unmatchable glamour in the best sense of that very overworked word.

My uncle lived on one of the routes served by the Caledonian from Central Low Level Station, and how can I forget the descent from the lofty and in those days immaculate spaces of the main-line station into the murky depths of this steam-operated underground. A permanent

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ALPHA AND OMEGA 171

woolly pall of steam clung under the low roof on the platforms whence drops of dirty moisture descended upon the waiting passengers; 0-4-4 condensing Tank engines rather sensibly painted black operated the service, and freight trains of which there were plenty passing from east to west under the city also sported 0-6-0 tender engines on which a long and rather battered looking copper pipe was supposed to convey the exhaust steam into the tender tank during the transit of the tunnels.

Whatever may have been the practice in earlier times, by the period of World War I condensing was undertaken as much in the breach as the observance, and so heavy became the through mineral workings that non-condensing engines had to be freely used. Conditions underground were really rather frightful but how fascinating it all was and to the best of my knowledge this inferno continued unabated into quite recent times.

The Glasgow and South Western was a difficult line to love. Rather un-Scottish looking Manson saturated steam 4-6-0's took over from the Midland at Carlisle, and gave their firemen a tottering time in getting their trains to St. Enoch if the black faces of these men, and the disappearance of nearly all the coal as seen at destination was anything to go by. Notwithstanding the utterly fascinating writings of David L.

Smith in his' G. & S.W. Nights Entertainments' 1 the Stirling, Smellie and Manson 4-4-0's, 0-6-o's and 0-4-2'S had a kind of unfinished appearance which only just succeeded in making them locomotives at all. The Peter Drummond engines were rare birds, of monumental sluggishness it was said, and when immediately after the war Whitelegg took a hand, the amorphous appearance of the stud was emphasised by nearly every class having some of its members rebuilt with other shapes of cabs, splashers, chimneys, smokebox doors, handrails and other external furnishings, none of which did the slightest bit towards improving performance or efficiency. The' melange' which was handed over to the L.M.S. in 1923 was almost unbelievable, and although I spent a little time in 1925 seeing where if anywhere Midland boilers might be introduced on to some of the 4-4-0's as the old boilers fell in, their new owners in the end threw their hand in, and ten years later nearly all had gone to the scrapyard.

There was one line in Scotland, however, where good loo