Wikipedia

Highland Railway Castle Class

The Highland Railway 'Castle Class' (or the A Class) was a class of 4-6-0 locomotives designed in 1900 by Peter Drummond, chief mechanical engineer of the Highland Railway at the time. 19 locomotives were built by Dübs and North British Locomotive Co. until 1917, and the last were withdrawn from service in 1947.

Highland Railway Castle Class
Highland Railway no.26 Brahan Castle
Type and origin
Power typeSteam
DesignerPeter Drummond
BuilderDubs & Co.
North British Locomotive Co.
Build date1900-1917
Total produced19
Specifications
Configuration:
​
 • Whyte4-6-0
 • UIC2'C n2
Gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Leading dia.990 mm (3 ft 3 in)
Coupled dia.1,752 mm (5 ft 9.0 in)
1917 batch: 1,829 mm (6 ft 0 in)
Wheelbase:​
 • Coupled4,343 mm (14 ft 3.0 in)
1917 batch: 4,420 mm (14 ft 6 in)
Total weight104 t (102 long tons; 115 short tons)
1917 batch: 107 t (105 long tons; 118 short tons)
Firebox:​
 • Grate area2.46 m2 (26.5 sq ft)
Heating surface191.7 m2 (2,063 sq ft)
CylindersTwo, outside
Cylinder size495 mm × 660 mm (19.5 in × 26.0 in)
Career
OperatorsHighland Railway
London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Withdrawn1930-1947
DispositionAll scrapped
[1][2][3]

History

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Postcard of a Castle Class locomotive
 
No. 59, built in 1917 with a six-wheel tender

Background and construction

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For some time, the Highland Railway had been planning to purchase new express locomotives, as due to increasing demand, passenger trains were often had to be hauled by two 4-4-0 locomotives on its most important route, the steep Highland Main Line. These plans were initially postponed, as the Highland Railway underwent financial difficulties at the turn of the 20th century, but later brought forward as the Highland Main Line shortcut between Aviemore and Inverness, soon after opening, saw an increase in traffic.[4] The performance of the 1894-built Jones Goods Class used on passenger trains during summer showed the viability of larger locomotives. The resulting dedicated passenger 4-6-0 locomotives designed by Peter Drummond were known as the Castle Class, as they were named after Scottish castles. In 1901, the Highland Railway introduced a classification system for its locomotives, which had previously only been numbered, and designated the locomotives as Class A. For financial reasons, the new locomotives, which were intended primarily for heavy express trains, were delivered in small batches at intervals of several years.[4] The first ten were built by Dübs and Company until 1902, thereafter the North British Locomotive Company, which absorbed Dübs & Co. in 1903, built further examples. At the time of their introduction, the Castle Class were considered the largest 4-6-0 locomotives in Great Britain.[5]

Service career

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Initially, the Castle Class took over heavy passenger trains on the Highland Main Line. After delivery, the first six were allocated to Perth , from where they made five round trips to Inverness per week. In 1910, 146 Skibo Castle was selected for comparison runs on the section over the Pass of Drumochter, but performed rather poorly in comparison with the North British Railway K Class. The North British Railway then shelved their procurement of their own 4-6-0s. Nevertheless, the Castles were able to meet the essential requirements and could haul trains of up to 200 tonnes without a pilot locomotive over the Pass of Drumochter and the Slochd Summit on the shortcut route. On downhill stretches, they reached speeds of up to 70 mph (about 112 km/h) with such trains and could maintain a speed of 25 mph (about 40 km/h) on the most difficult uphill sections.[6]

From 1913, the Castle Class were also used to pull passenger trains on the Far North Line, after no.143 Gordon Castle was successfully trialed hauling a 260-ton train from Inverness to Wick. At the outbreak of the First World War, the Castles were also responsible for hauling passenger trains to Thurso and Wick, carrying naval officers and seamen for the Grand Fleet based at Scapa Flow. From 1917, the Naval Specials, colloquially known as the "Jellicoe Express" after Admiral John Jellicoe, the commander of the fleet, ran between London Euston and Thurso with a journey time of 21.5 hours. These trains were hauled by Castle Class locomotives over the Highland Railway routes in just over 10 hours, with a locomotive exchange being performed at Inverness.[7]

In 1923, all 19 locomotives came under the ownership of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) when the Railways Act 1921 came into effect. Their sphere of operation initially remained largely the same, with most of the Castle Class remaining in Perth and Inverness depots. Some were also temporally allocated to Aviemore, Forres, Helmsdale and Wick. Beginning in 1930, the LMS commenced withdrawal of these locomotives. In 1936, some examples were transferred to the former Caledonian Railway line to Oban, now part of the West Highland Line, where they pulled trains between Oban and Glasgow and as far as Dundee. They were stationed at Balornock depot in Glasgow. By the time the Second World War broke out in 1939, ten locomotives had been withdrawn, and in 1945, examples from all batches were still in service. The last example in service, 14690 Dalcross Castle, was withdrawn from Aviemore Sheds in 1947, and scrapped at Inverness a few weeks later. During its service life, it had attained a mileage of 925,290 miles (about 1.49 million kilometers).[7]

Design

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In line with design principals at the time, the Castles were designed as saturated locomotives with plate frames.[5] They were also fitted with slide valves, as the Highland Railway had negative experiences with the piston valve-fitted Loch Class locomotives they had purchased in 1896. The four Castle Class locomotives delivered in 1902 were fitted with Westinghouse brakes, so that they could take over trains from neighbouring railway companies to the south that were equipped with these brakes. In 1912, no.141 Ballindalloch Castle was fitted with a Phoenix superheater, but was deemed unsuccessful, and was later removed, although the locomotive retained the extended smokebox for the superheater until 1917.[4]

The locomotives were equipped with “water cart” bogie tenders, allowing for a larger water capacity than the traditional tree-axle tenders. These bogie tenders were designed by Peter Drummond's brother, Dugald Drummond, who was the chief mechanical engineer for the London and South Western Railway; they too used water cart tenders from 1900 onwards.[8] The wheels, which were exposed due to the use of internal frames, gave these tenders their distinctive appearance.

The four examples built by NBL in 1913 received minor modifications. Externally visible were the extended smokebox and the slightly enlarged chimney. Other minor changes included thicker bottom rings[clarify] for the firebox and reinforced drive rod bearings. Plans to fit the Schmidt superheater were made, but was dropped.[9] There were major differences in the three examples built in 1917. Christopher Cumming, Drummond's successor, used slightly larger driving wheels, which also increased the wheelbase. Cumming also decided to use the more traditional three-axle tenders, which still could carry a little more water.[2]

From 1916 onwards, the Highland Railway gradually fitted the earlier batches with new boilers, as the existing ones had become worn out due to poor maintenance during the war. In the following period, almost all of the Castle Class received new boilers, some only at the time of the LMS, who also fitted them with new chimneys.[10] Two locomotives received new, slightly modified boilers in 1926, while some others received different components from other constituent companies of the LMS, including smokebox doors based on the Midland Railway design, or a shortened chimney, likely due to a lack of spare parts.[7]

Numbering

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Builder Works number Year built HR No. Name LMS No. Withdrawn
Dübs & Co. 3848 1900 140 Taymouth Castle 14675 1939
Dübs & Co. 3849 1900 141 Ballindalloch Castle 14676 1937
Dübs & Co. 3850 1900 142 Dunrobin Castle 14677 1939
Dübs & Co. 3851 1900 143 Gordon Castle 14678 1946
Dübs & Co. 3852 1900 144 Blair Castle 14679 1936
Dübs & Co. 3853 1900 145 Murthly Castle 14680 1930
Dübs & Co. 4244 1902 146 Skibo Castle 14681 1946
Dübs & Co. 4245 1902 147 Beaufort Castle 14682 1943
Dübs & Co. 4246 1902 148 Cawdor Castle 14683 1937
Dübs & Co. 4247 1902 149 Duncraig Castle 14684 1940
NBL 19011 1910 30 Dunvegan Castle 14685 1945
NBL 19012 1911 35 Urquhart Castle 14686 1946
NBL 20160 1913 26 Brahan Castle 14687 1935
NBL 20161 1913 27 Thurso Castle 14688 1935
NBL 20162 1913 28 Cluny Castle 14689 1944
NBL 20163 1913 43 Dalcross Castle 14690 1947
NBL 21459 1917 50 Brodie Castle 14691 1938
NBL 21460 1917 58 Darnaway Castle 14692 1946
NBL 21461 1917 59 Foulis Castle 14693 1935
Reference:[11][12]

Similar export models

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French locomotives

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ETAT 230–324 in 1930

The Chemins de fer de l’État (ETAT) ordered 50 locomotives almost identical to the Highland Railway Castles from the North British Locomotive Company in 1911. Their most distinctive feature was the fitting of a steam injector next to the firebox. Numerous details allowed experts[who?] to immediately recognise the British origin of these locomotives. The size of the Highland Railway locomotives, which appeared more delicate than comparable French locomotives due to the smaller British loading gauge, was also noticeable. The ETAT placed their locomotives in the 230-321 to 230–370 series.[13] Due to their performance being less satisfactory compared to other ETAT 4-6-0s, they were soon used primarily on secondary services, such as in front of construction trains. From 1933 onwards, ETAT began to decommission these locomotives, with most of them being scrapped before the start of the Second World War.[4]

In 1938, when the Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (SNCF) was formed, locomotives 323, 341 and 365 were still serving as reserve locomotives or parts donors until 1941. They were placed under the 3-230 D class.[13]

Iberian locomotives

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Preserved locomotive in the museum in Madrid

In 1907, NBL built six more Castle Class lookalikes (with more differences than their Scottish and French counterparts, such as the use of the Belpaire firebox) for the Caminhos de Ferro Portugueses da Beira Alta. These were built to the Iberian broad-gauge of 1,668 mm (5 ft 5+21⁄32 in). These locomotives were later sold to the Ferrocarriles de Medina del Campo a Zamora y de Orense a Vigo, and then to RENFE as class 230.2059–230.2064. One example is on display at the Railway Museum in Madrid.[14]

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References

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  1. ^ Locomotive, Railway Carriage and Wagon Review. Vol. 5–6. Locomotive Publishing Company. 1900. p. 107.
  2. ^ a b Locomotive, Railway Carriage and Wagon Review. Vol. 23. London: Locomotive Publishing Company. 15 September 1917. p. 173.
  3. ^ Barris, Wes. "Highland 4-6-0 Locomotives in Great Britain". steamlocomotive.com. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d Atkins, C.P. (1976). The Scottish 4-6-0 Classes. Ian Allan. p. 16. ISBN 0-7110-0700-4.
  5. ^ a b "Class A / Castle". www.steamlocomotive.com. Wes Barris. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
  6. ^ Atkins, C.P. (1976). The Scottish 4-6-0 Classes. Ian Allan. p. 17. ISBN 0-7110-0700-4.
  7. ^ a b c Atkins, C.P. (1976). The Scottish 4-6-0 Classes. Ian Allan. p. 20. ISBN 0-7110-0700-4.
  8. ^ "Drummond T9 "Greyhound" class 4-4-0 Tenders". sremg.org.uk. Southern Railway E-mail Group. 2009-12-30. Retrieved 2024-10-15.
  9. ^ Atkins, C.P. (1976). The Scottish 4-6-0 Classes. Ian Allan. p. 18. ISBN 0-7110-0700-4.
  10. ^ Casey Jones. "The Highland Railway 'Castle' Class". John D’s First Railway & Canal Blog. Retrieved 2024-10-13.[better source needed]
  11. ^ Hugh Aymer Vallance (1971-01-01), Pan Books (ed.), The Highland Railway, pp. 136–141, ISBN 978-0330027205
  12. ^ Dave Woodcock. "Class hr castle 4-6-0". Retrieved 2024-10-13.[better source needed]
  13. ^ a b "Les 230 du réseau de l'Etat" (in French). Retrieved 2024-10-13.[better source needed]
  14. ^ Wes Barris. "Beira Alta 4-6-0 Locomotives in Portugal". SteamLocomotive.com. Retrieved 2024-10-13.
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