Caledonian 0-6-0 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class 272 (Locobase 20317)

Data from "Yard Shunting Engine, Caledonian Ry", The Locomotive Magazine, Vol XXVII [27] (15 July 1921), p. 168.

Dugal Drummond wanted his Caley shunters to be able to throw their weight around, so he gave them a healthy set of power dimensions for tractive effort. He combined those with enough grate, firebox, and evaporative heating surface area to ensure that the saddle-tanks would always have enough on hand.

More than a decade later, J F McIntosh appears to adopted Drummond's shunter as his prototype for a mineral tank engine; see Locobase 10697.

Class 294 (Locobase 20316)

Data from . See also "New Goods Locomotives for the Caledonian Railway", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XXIV [24] (14 December 1918), p. 190.

That these were updates of the well-liked and long-lived six-coupled goods described in Locobase 5538 is easy to tell from the data. But there were some changes. William Pickersgill introduced a piston valve for the Stephenson link that consisted of a steel tube joined to the cast steel heads at each end through a threaded connector. The rings were cast iron. Machining the valves became easier and the cylinders could be placed closer together inside the frame, which allowed the use of longer bearings.

Another relatively minor change was a 7" (177 mm) increase in tube length, which added about 50 sq ft (4.65 sq m) to the original heating surface area.

All of this class were taken into the LMS upon grouping. Twenty-five years later, the remaining 23 were nationalized. British Railways gradually discarded them from 1948 to 1963.

Class 498 Baby Pug (Locobase 5537)

Jim Smellie's article on this class appears as part of a series carried on a brass-locomotive modeling site -- [] (visited 13 May 2003). See also "Shunting Locomotives, Caledonian Railway", Volume XXV [25] (15 January 1919), p. 3

In addition to being called "Braby Pugs", a reference to the Braby Eclipse Works where the prototype was tried, this class also was known as "Wee Cuddies", "Bulldogs", and "Hercules" -- all testaments to the design's pulling power. These tanks were developed to operate in the tight confines that defeated the larger 782 class locomotives. Compared to the latter's minimum curve radius of 99 yards, the 498s could handle 66 yards.

The class grew slowly -- 2 in 1912, 6 more in 1915, 6 more in 1918, a quintet in 1920, and the final 4 in 1921. (Although LM's 1919 report of "new shunters" doesn't mention it, they simply continued the design first produced in 1912.)

In the late 1940s through 1950, fifteen of the class had 2 of their firetubes removed and replaced by longitudinal stays. Thus the tube heating surface was reduced by 7 sq ft. All were taken into British Railways service as 56151-56173. Service retirements began in 1958, ending in 1961.

Class 631 (Locobase 3017)

Data from "A Scotch "Long Boiler" Locomotive of the 'Seventies'", Volume 25, Railway Magazine (December 1909), pp. 494. See also "Six-Coupled Mineral Locomotive Caledonian Rly", Locomotives and Railways, Volume II [2], No 13 (January 1901), p. 7.

Long-boiler 0-6-0 with outside cylinders, the use of the latter in this wheel arrangement being almost unheard of in British practice according to Ahrons (1927). Designed by Benjain Connor, this was a relatively small engine for the time. Working the mineral trains, the locomotives' short wheelbases served them well as they traversed the "sharp curves that abound[ed] in the neighbourhood of the collieries", reported the RM's retrospective look at the class. But L&R's look back at the design commented that while the short wheelbase indeed served its purpose, it gave a "great overhang at either end, and caused the engines to have an uncomfortable see-saw motion on the footplate when running fast."

L&R reported that all had been withdrawn from the main line by 1901 and operated in Lanarkshire mineral trains and "on sections where there are sharp curves and heavy trains." They had proved themselves "remarkably useful and serviceable engines, on some sections taking heavier loads than the standard goods [locomotives] 700 class." At the time of the RM's 1909 review, some of the class were still running.

Class 782 (Locobase 10697)

Data from "Six-Coupled Mineral Tank Locomotives, Caledonian Ry", The Locomotive Magazine, Vol XV (15 March 1909), p. 47.

J F McIntosh seems to have concluded that Dugald Drummond's 1887 saddle-tank shunter (Locobase 20317) would adapt well to mineral service (presumably on branches between the pithead and the main line). If the specs are any guide, about the only signficant change he made was to substitute tall side tanks for the original saddle tank.

Class 812 & 852 (Locobase 5538)

Jim Smellie's article on this class appears as part of a series carried on a brass-locomotive modeling site -- [] (visited 13 May 2003)--Jim Smellie, "CL02/2a Caledonian Railway Classes 812 & 652 0-6-0 locomotive and tender" Caley Coaches, archived as [], last accessed 10 January 2017.

The orders for the first 50 were distributed among Neilson Reid; Sharp, Stewart; and Dubs (all of whom would soon group together as North British Locomotive Company). Neilson's works numbers for 829-838 ran 5613-5622 in 1899 and for 839-848, the works numbers were 5623-5632 in 1900. Sharp Stewart's fifteen engines too road numbers 849-863 and represented works numbers 4634-4648, also in 1900. Dubs' fifteen--864-878--were works numbers 3880-3894 also in 1900

These were enlarged "Jumbos" with bigger boilers and longer wheelbases. A later batch of seventeen built at St Rollox in 1908-1909 (road numbers 652-654, 656-659, 662-665, 325-328, 42,3 and 460) were known as the 652 class, usually described as having no significant differences.

Jim Smellie account, however, noted that a tendency for the frames to crack near the horn gaps where the axles turned was countered by strengthening the frames at those points. This in turn forced a change in shape of the reversing rod. Coil springs on the driving axle in the original proved pretty "lively", so laminated leafs replaced them in the 852s. The cab's cutout featured a continuous curve.

The "Caley" used these engines in both freight and passenger service, according to Smellie, including the fast Firth of Clyde runs from Glasgow Central to Gourock and Wemyss Bay. Freight work included the medium-to-heavy freights from Carlisle to Perth as well as coal trains from Lanarkshire.

As the Caledonian fell under the LMS in 1923 and the LMS under British Rail in 1948, this class spread out. "In fact," notes Smellie,"they were major workhorses al over Scotland before their ultimate withdrawal in 1963 ..." He adds that the least-used member of the class averaged 18,559 miles a year and the most 25,188 miles.

828 was preserved and after many years in restoration appeared at the Strathspey Railway at Aviemore in a blog--[], last accessed 10 January 2017-- that began in January 2016 to document the progress of an intermediate repair that would allow her to operate 30-40 days per year until her boiler ticket expired in 2020.

Class McIntosh Jumbo (Locobase 9941)

Ian McDonnell, in notes accompanying Bryan Attewell ([] Steam locomotive simulator (April 2000 edition), notes that these Dugald Drummond engines were in production for 14 years.

Of the total run, the last 83 came equipped with Westinghouse air brakes to allow their use as passenger engines. They pottered about for decades, the last ones not leaving service until 1962.

Class Standard Goods/294 (Locobase 3776)

Ian McDonnell, in notes accompanying Bryan Attewell ([] Steam locomotive simulator (April 2000 edition), notes that these Dugald Drummond engines were in production for fourteen years.

Of the total run, the last 83 came equipped with Westinghouse air brakes to allow their use as passenger engines. They pottered about for decades, the last ones not leaving service until 1962.