Highland 4-6-0 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class A / Castle (Locobase 3021)

Data from "New 'Highland' Locomotive", Locomotive Engineering, Volume 13, No 9 (September 1900), p. 374; "Six-Coupled Passenger Engines: Highland Railway", Railway Engineer, Volume 21, No 11 (November 1900), pp. 330-331; and HA Vallance, The Highland Railway (w/ Climber & Lambert, 4th ed. 1985). Dubs works numbers were 3848-3853 in 1900, 4244-4247 in 1902; North British works numbers were 19011-19012 in 1911, 20160-20163 in 1913, and 21459-21461 in 1917.

Peter Drummond enlargements of David Jones 1890 design of the inside-frame, outside-cylinder Ten-wheeler. At the time of their introduction, they were described by LE as "the largest in Great Britain" that showed "a remarkable advance in size and power on any others in the country."

These were intended for passenger service and were, by Glover's (1967) description, "highly successful." They worked the heavy trains between Inverness and Perth, making five round-trips weekly, "a task," says Vallance, ' that they accomplished with conspicuous success."

According to Madrid's Railroad Museum, a later set of six engines built by North British and delivered to Portugal's Beira-Alta in 1907 and 1909 (Locobase 3355) were based on this class.

Class Clan/4P (Locobase 2744)

Data from H A Vallance, The Highland Railway (Newton Abbot, Devon : David St. John Thomas : David & Charles, 1985),.. See also "New Superheater " Clan" Class Passenger Locomotive, HIghland Railway", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XXV [25], No 325 (15 September 1919); and, for the oil-burning trial, "Liquid-Fuel Locomotives on British Railways - I", Railway Engineer, Volume 42, No 8 (August 1921), pp. 304-305, 308; and steamindex's summary of serveral sources on the "Highland Railway locomotives" at [], last accessed 15 April 2020.

HL works numbers were 3329-3332, 3443-3446.

These Christopher Cumming engines had a slightly tapered boiler, Robinson superheater, and Belpaire firebox. The pistons and valve gear were outside, but the 10"-diameter (254 mm) piston valves lay between the drivers. "They were extremely robust, free-steaming, and generally reliable engines," says OS Nock (RWC IV, pl 179),"ideally suited to the hard work involved with heavy mail and passenger trains over the severe gradients of the Highland line." Steamindex cites Donald Massey as noting that the LMS's use of the Clans on the flatter southern sections out of Perth showed the engines to be "not so happy" in attempting that service.

The Clan Stewart was modified to use a Scarab Oil Burning Company system in its firebox. It had a single burner that could handle 220 gallons (1,000 litres of oil per hour. Mounted below the tubesheet, it sprayed the oil to the rear and under the brick arch. Firebrick lined the bottom of the firebox (no grate, remember) and up the backhead to approximately level with the upper edge of the brick arch.

The Highland had only slightly to modify its tenders because the widespread adoption of electric lighting in English trains at this time. The gas cylinders used to supply lighting gas served equally well as oil tanks and five were arranged in a two over three layout.

Although the trial was successful, the Clan Stewart remained alone as an oil burner on the Highland. (The readily available coal's high quality and the lack of any domestic oil reserves in the British Isles dampened any enthusiasm for adopting oil fuel for many locomotives.)

HA Vallance notee, too, that this was the last design to be built for the Highland before its absorption by the London, Midland, & Scottish under the 1923 Grouping.

The first four were painted a dark green; the 1922 batch of four were painted a pale leaf green. Once under the LMS colors, these engines ran on the Callander-Oban line well into World War II and beyond, with the last being withdrawn by British Railways in January 1950.

Class Jones Goods / 4F (Locobase 3020)

David Jones design of the inside-frame, outside-cylinder Ten-wheeler that would be a significant type in British service. Glover (1967) describes a design that made room for a deep firebox between the second and third axles, which were widely separated. Just behind the second axle, the firebox was 64.75" below the boiler centerline, but sloped up and back to come within 14.5" of the centerline at the third axle. (One wonders how a fireman could keep an even fire on such a steep slope, although all the upgrades in the mountains would have levelled things out.)

Testimony is universal that these were powerful and successful freight engines that worked well over the steep gradients. HA Vallance (4th ed. w/ Climber & Lambert, 1985) salutes Jones' "bold" decision to introduce the Ten-Wheeler arrangement. He notes that at the time of their introduction, "they were undoubtedly the most powerful mainline engines in the country" and that they handled passenger trains well in addition to the freight work.