Steam Days Magazine September 2024 issue **20 PAGE FREE PREVIEW**

‘BEACHY HEAD’ AND THE BRIGHTON ATLANTICS

September 2024 | DIGI

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New Faces on the highland lines

SEPTEMBER 2024

Plus Danger, high voltage! ‘yellow stripe’ 60 years

CHANGES ON CHESTER’S MAIN LINES

FROM WOTTON TRAMWAY TO BRILL BRANCH

No 421

Cover: With an impressive backdrop rising to the summit of Craig Bhagailteach (1,612ft), a Pickersgill class ‘72’ ‘Caley Bogie’ 4-4-0 heads east away from Blair Atholl on the Highland main line with a Perth-bound goods service in April 1957. Built by W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd as Caledonian Railway No 84 in March 1921, this engine seems to have ventured into Highland territory from its Perth base. Colour-Rail.com/SC292

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Trains of thought

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Beachy Head – putting a wrong, right With the new-build Beachy Head now in steam at the Bluebell Railway, Andrew Britton offers the back-story to the ‘Brighton Atlantics’, concentrating on their post-war work and recalling the sad loss of No 32424 ‘Beachy Head’ as the last of the type.

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New faces on the Highland lines The ‘Big Four’ and British Railways eras saw ex-Highland Railway metals enjoy a surprising variety of motive power – John Roake looks at ‘foreign’ types drafted in, regular visitors, and new classes of LMS and BR origin.

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Subscriptions The ex-Highland Railway branch service from Ballinluig to Aberfeldy is in the hands of McIntosh ‘439’ class 0-4-4T No 55200 in May 1959, the train being ‘mixed’. Perth-allocated Caledonian ‘Passenger Tanks’ were regular on the branch around this time. Neil Sprinks/Colour-Rail.com/108402NS

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Danger, high voltage!

Sixty years after the yellow ‘not south of Crewe’ warning stripe was introduced to bar over-height locomotives from passing beneath 25kV overhead lines, Andrew Kennedy considers the restrictions of 1 September 1964 and the fleet of locomotives duly adorned with the cabside warning.

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Changes on Chester’s main lines His home for six years, Chris Forrest looks at the changing scene at this former GWR/LMS/LNER frontier from the mid-1950s, many brought about

by BR regional boundary changes.

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From Wotton Tramway to Brill branch – Quainton Road to Brill: 1871-1909 Built with economy in mind, Bruce Laws tracks this rural tramway from

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inception, opening and into everyday use, and concluding in pre-war days with the line operating as the Brill branch of the Metropolitan Railway.

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TRAINS of thought

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Next month...

Byways to Brecon Cross-country performance Perth NBR/LNER engine shed The 1954-built ‘9F’ 2-10-0s The Cranleigh line … in full colour On sale Thursday, 19 September 2024

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elcome to your September issue of Steam Days. A significant moment for railway preservation in Britain will be when new-build ‘Brighton Atlantic’ Beachy Head steams for the first time in public at the Bluebell Railway’s late summer gala. How this graceful express locomotive was allowed to slip away first time around is lamented by Andrew Britton in his ‘Putting a wrong, right’ article. The passing of the last of the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway Marsh ‘H2’ Atlantics in 1958 came just too early for enthusiasts to intervene.

The steam preservation movement’s opening salvos had commenced with the narrow gauge Talyllyn Railway in 1951, the first preserved railway in the world. It was some nine years later before the first standard gauge preserved railway in the world opened … the Bluebell in Sussex.

The withdrawal of the original Beachy Head came in that nine year window, and it seemed that the days of the ‘Brighton Atlantics’ were gone for good. Who could have predicted then just where we find ourselves today?

The completion of new-build Peppercorn ‘A1’ Tornado in 2008 after an 18 year gestation period, opened eyes as to what was possible, and there are now a number of new-build projects underway. The gestation period for Beachy Head has been even longer, with the ball set rolling in 1986 with the discovery of an ex-Great Northern Railway Ivatt Atlantic ‘C1’ class boiler on an industrial site in Essex. The ‘Brighton Atlantics’ had been built to a modified drawing from the Great Northern design, this meant that the boiler was also correct for an ‘H2’ ‘Brighton Atlantic’.

The ‘H2s’ 4-4-2s were designed by Douglas Earle Marsh who had worked for the Great Western Railway under William Dean, before joining the Great Northern Railway where he was involved with the design of H A Ivatt’s Atlantics prior to his move to the Brighton in 1904.

It would be fascinating to know how long it took Messrs Pigott and Dymond, who found the boiler, to alight on the notion of using their discovery to form the basis of a new-build Brighton Marsh Atlantic, and exactly who it was that first raised the idea of ‘What if ’! At the time of the Atlantic boiler’s discovery it would have been a wildly ambitious dream. We must be grateful for the vision and perseverance of the Bluebell Railway Atlantic Group which was formed to bring that dream to reality … for we’ve reached that moment.

Some inspiration may have been drawn from a scheme, evolved in the late 1970s, to build a Great Western Railway ‘Saint’ class, another type that had evaded the preservationists. Using the frames and boiler from a ‘Hall’ class, this would ultimately bear fruit as the 78th ‘Saint’, No 2999 Lady of Legend, steamed for the first time in 2019. Another project to build a GWR 4-6-0 class that had been lost to the cutter’s torch was launched in 1998. Using a combination of parts from various other locomotives, plus newly constructed frames, cylinders and cab, No 6880 Betton Grange was steamed for the first time in April. It’s been quite the year for new-builds!

There is no finer home for Beachy Head than the Bluebell Railway, the line being of firmly London, Brighton & South Coast Railway heritage. A ‘Brighton Atlantic’ is coming home, the Bluebell’s steam gala of 23 August to 1 September will be an occasion to savour.

Enjoy your read and your only special memories.

Ian Kennedy

From the summer of 1951 all five active Atlantics were allocated to Brighton shed, and although they had a small amount of booked work, other tasks were unpredictable as they proved useful at standing in for failures and for otherwise unavailable locomotives. Displaying duty number 740 on the headcode disk bottom right, Marsh ‘H2’ 4-4-2 No 32424 Beachy Head runs into Horsted Keynes with a down service on Saturday, 26 July 1952.

This Saturday turn was booked for a Fairburn ‘4MT’ 2-6-4T and began as the 7.06am from Brighton to London Bridge via Eridge and Oxted. The engine then moved the empty stock of the 8.28am from Lewes to London Bridge away from the terminus to New Cross Gate, before spending the rest of the day at Bricklayers Arms shed, returning south again on this working, the 4.18pm from London Bridge to Brighton via Oxted and Sheffield Park. Sadly, the full diagram would be out of the question today but scenes such as this will however, soon be possible once again.

Colin Saunders/Bluebell Railway Museum Archive

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Beachy Head Putting a wrong, right

With the new-build ‘Beachy Head’ now in steam at the Bluebell Railway, Andrew Britton offers the back-story to the ‘Brighton Atlantics’, largely concentrating on their post-war work and recalling the sad loss of No 32424 ‘Beachy Head’ as the last of the type, its official withdrawal coming on 3 May 1958 after 1,090,661 miles of service across a 47 year working life.

T

he late R H N ‘Dick’ Hardy, former shedmaster of Stewarts Lane motive power depot, and driver Bert Hooker of Nine Elms shed often lamented that when the last ‘Brighton Atlantic’ was cut up at Eastleigh a great wrong was done, as No 32424 Beachy Head was a very worthy candidate for preservation. As we go to press, this great wrong is being put right by the Bluebell Railway Atlantic Group.

Several years ago, a former Great Northern Railway Atlantic boiler came up for sale and was purchased with the intention of using it to build a replica London, Brighton & South Coast Railway 4-4-2 at the Bluebell Railway in Sussex. The boiler was discovered in Essex by Nick Pigott and Steve Dymond at a joinery business owned by Boulton & Paul Ltd – it was in use by previous owners John Sadd Ltd until 1975 when a new heating system was installed. Since acquiring that boiler, significant progress included the acquisition of an ex-LB&SCR ‘B4’ tender chassis and also ‘C2X’ tender wheelsets and axleboxes. The main frames were cut and assembled, plus the driving and bogie wheels 6

Forty years after the idea of a recreated engine was first floated, new build ‘Brighton Atlantic’ No 32424 Beachy Head has emerged from the workshop and edges gingerly away from Sheffield Park and towards Horsted Keynes with an empty stock full-line test run using the ‘Wealden Rambler’ set on Wednesday, 10 July 2024. James Cummins/Bluebell Railway

were cast and fitted. While a myriad of jobs was being undertaken, interest in the project increased, new component parts were manufactured, and even long lost treasures were donated, such as the last Atlantic’s regulator handle. After countless hours of hard work, the task of putting the wrong, right began to be ever more visible, culminating in steam tests, light engine runs, loaded tests, and then the recent announcement that ‘It is intended to introduce 32424 Beachy Head into service at the Bluebell Railway between August 23rd and September 1st 2024’.

I’d like to think that perhaps within a week of this article appearing in your hands, a few of you will be among the first to enjoy the new era of the ‘H2’ class 4-4-2, the rebirth of a Marsh Atlantic a hugely exciting realisation of

a dream. I very much look forward to my first journey and, inspired by the revival, I have delved through my own archives to better appreciate all that we once thought was lost.

The ‘Brighton Atlantics’ have a fascinating history. Douglas Earle Marsh designed these magnificent locomotives after arriving at the LB&SCR from the Great Northern Railway in 1904 and only 11 examples were constructed, the first five being by Kitson & Co Ltd of Leeds as the ‘H1’ class, with the remaining six produced by Brighton Works in 1911 as ‘H2’ class. The Atlantics were built for the purpose of hauling passenger trains on the 52 mile route between London and Brighton in one hour. I loved the names given to them, which were all of geographical landmarks, as seen in Table One.

Table One The ‘Brighton Atlantics’, their names and withdrawal dates Final No Name ‘H1’ class (built 1905/06) 32037 Selsey Bill 32038 Portland Bill 32039 Hartland Point* 2040 St Catherine’s Point 2041 Peveril Point

Geographical location

Withdrawal date

South of Chichester, West Sussex Portland, Dorset West of Bideford, north Devon Isle of Wight Swanage, Dorset

July 1951 July 1951 February 1951 January 1944 March 1944

‘H2’ class (built 1911/12) 32421 South Foreland 32422 North Foreland 2423 The Needles 32424 Beachy Head 32425 Trevose Head 32426 St Alban’s Head

Dover, Kent Broadstairs, Kent Isle of Wight Eastbourne, Sussex Padstow, Cornwall Swanage, Dorset

August 1956 September 1956 May 1949 April 1958 September 1956 August 1956

* For use on a train for a state visit of the French President, LB&SCR No 39 was named La France in June 1913; it carried this until renamed Hartland Point in January 1926.

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Emerging from Patcham tunnel into the Downs beyond, LB&SCR Marsh ‘H1’ 4-4-2 No 41 heads for London with a Brighton to Victoria express. The view is undated but the absence of an ampersand between the L and B letters on the tender, and also the headcode carried, suggest that it was taken between 1911 and 1917. The livery is umber, edged with a darker shade of umber, lined in black and edged with a gilt line on either side. The original roof pattern is apparent, as is the absence of a nameplate. Douglas Earle Marsh as locomotive superintendent of the L&BSCR took a dim view on the naming of engines and it wasn’t until the advent of the Southern Railway that the name Peveril Point was applied to this engine, at the same time it received Southern Maunsell green livery in March 1925. Steam Days Collection

Post-Grouping, the established work of these locomotives was lost when on 30 December 1932 the Southern Railway extended and inaugurated third rail electrification through to Brighton, marking the end of express steam haulage on the London to Brighton main line. Later in the decade, the Atlantics were trialled elsewhere on the Eastern and Western divisions of the SR, but ultimately they did not stray far from the Central section, finding work on London trains from Eastbourne, Bognor Regis and even Portsmouth Harbour. Newhaven shed received a pair of ‘H1s’ from Eastbourne in February 1933, where they took up continental boat train duties, while the other five at Eastbourne were soon transferred to New Cross shed. The Atlantics were employed on some Brighton to London ‘business trains’ via Uckfield, but express work diminished with further

electrification at Eastbourne from 7 July 1935, and over the Mid-Sussex line via Horsham from 3 July 1938. The cabs were modified and cut-down in this period to increase route availability. Newhaven boat train traffic came to an abrupt end with the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 and wouldn’t resume until 1945, by which time the first two ‘H1s’, Nos 2040 St Catherine’s Point and 2041 Peveril Point had been withdrawn.

Beyond the conflict, the remaining three ‘H1s’ and all six ‘H2s’ entered service with British Railways from 1 January 1948, but a month before this it is worth mentioning that a heavily modified No 2039 Hartland Point had emerged from Brighton Works as a test bed for Bulleid’s ‘Leader’ class engines then under development; the ‘H1’ would never re-enter normal service before its withdrawal on 24 February 1951.

According to the late Dick Hardy, the Atlantics were primarily allocated to Newhaven shed owing to the limitations and size of the turntable. Of great interest in this regard is a large folder of Newhaven engine shed’s handwritten records that I acquired over 50 years ago. During this time I have only shown it to my friend, the LB&SCR O Gauge modeller John Cox, but it seems more than appropriate now to include a few of the pages here, including mentions of ‘H2’ No 32424 Beachy Head and its classmates to better understand their operation circa 1948/49. This unique logbook, a truly extraordinary survivor of everyday paperwork at running shed level, contains the complete records of the ‘Brighton Atlantics’ based at Newhaven, as well as the full shed allocation at the time. Close inspection of the records is enlightening, with details such as the last date

LB&SCR Marsh ‘H1’ 4-4-2 No 2037 Selsey Bill, in unlined black livery, is ahead of ‘H2’ No 2423 The Needles outside the corrugated iron clad shed at Newhaven on Saturday, 12 July 1947. Billinton ‘E4’ 0-6-2T No 2508 completes the line-up on the left. The shed’s raison d’être was the servicing of freight and passenger needs of the adjacent harbour, with its busy coastal and cross-channel shipping traffic. The Atlantics are likely to be waiting the call to work boat trains from Newhaven Harbour station, connecting with the daily ferry sailings from Dieppe. The ‘H1’ is carrying a special train number, so is presumably lined up for a relief service, while the main train could well be entrusted to the ‘H2’. There was little difference in performance between the two classes after the installation of superheating on the ‘H1s’ in the early years after the Grouping, and the stepped footplate above the cylinders on these earlier locomotives represents the main visual difference. Henry Priestley/Transport Treasury

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of general repair for all Newhaven locos, their ongoing mileage calculations, and much more. The handwritten notes for each engine show scheduled remedial work and repairs.

An entry for No 2422 North Foreland in regard to an injector failure at Crowhurst on 9 March 1949 notes, ‘Stewarts Lane men on the footplate’ – was that seen by the home shed as a factor? Perhaps, but the injector issue was clearly an ongoing problem and cross-referencing of further information tells the wider story, not least that North Foreland had its last general repair at Ashford Works as long ago as 11 October 1944 and that calculations undertaken on 9 October 1948 had the 4-4-2 as expected to add 4,470 miles to its tally by the end of the year, putting it on 74,486 miles since its last overhaul; it was earmarked for another at 90,000. However, a table of ‘shopping dates’ has a series of notes for that same ‘H2’ too – a member of the depot staff had No 2422, ‘mentioned for shopping 31/12/48’, then ‘again on 21-2-49’, and then a third attempt appears as, ‘to repropose Aug 1949’, so North Foreland was seemingly in need of some attention at works level and was still waiting.

Delving further through these papers gives the bigger picture for a Tuesday, 10 May 1949 photograph of No 2426 St Alban’s Head passing Selsdon with the 6.10pm London (Victoria) to Uckfield service. The Newhaven shed details have the three other Atlantics on its books as all stopped that day, while No 2426 was one of 13 Newhaven locos used on the following day, along with sister ‘H2s’ Nos 2422 North Foreland and 2424 Beachy Head, and ‘H1’ No 2038 Portland Bill – all four of these Atlantics were booked work, on ‘duty 782 & 783 & relief boat – 6.0am; 6.5am.’

The main boat train work as well as any reliefs would be covered by the 4-4-2s at this time.

To date, the post-war work of the Newhaven Atlantics had continued much as it had before the war, but a surviving copy of a memo reports on a meeting undertaken on the following day – Thursday, 12 May 1949; Newhaven shed was under threat of closure.

The meeting was clearly brought about as electrification of Newhaven Marine was to be inaugurated from Sunday, 22 May 1949, when continental boat train traffic was largely

A portion of the daily running log at Newhaven shed for Marsh ‘H2’ 4-4-2 No 32422 North Foreland in 1949 gives some idea of the dayto-day repairs and replacements necessary to keep the engine in traffic.

Although the working on 9 March 1949 is not detailed, the engine was obviously in the charge of a Stewarts Lane crew when it ran into injector trouble at Crowborough. Here, and elsewhere in the log, there is a thinly disguised disdain for the London boys, such is the friendly rivalry between depots!

Britton Collection

handed over to the three Raworth/Bullied ‘Hornby’ Co-Co electric locomotives, Nos 20001-03, by then on the books, with one used at a time on the Newhaven trains. This development made it easy to strike off No 2423 The Needles in the same month, stopped with cracked frames and badly worn cylinders – and a glance back at the January 1949 table of Newhaven examinations finds No 2423 struck off, not as withdrawn at that stage but upon its transfer to Brighton ‘as from 14-12-48’. It seems that there was quite a bit of toing and froing between these depots.

As it happens the volume of traffic passing through the port of Newhaven saw steam operation continue on relief boat trains, and while the shed at Newhaven did not close until 1955 the advent of Fairburn 2-6-4Ts entering service on the region saw changes from

summer 1950. Table Two (see page 10) details the Newhaven engine duties that passed from Atlantic to ‘LM4 2-6-4T’ – duties 780 and 781 were routed via Uckfield and were ‘business’ (commuter) trains.

By this time the Atlantics were finding work on through trains to other regions and to other divisions of the Southern. In addition to relief boat train work, reaching such places as Willesden on inter-regional trains, and Bournemouth too on service from Brighton, an extra curiosity was brought about by their being equipped with Westinghouse brake equipment – two Atlantics, three ‘K’ class Moguls and a group of ‘B4x’ rebuilt Brighton 4-4-0s were taken from store to work RAF Air Pageant specials between London (Waterloo) and Farnborough on 7/8 July. The stock used was Westinghouse-fitted only, it being otherwise out

Railway workshops were overloaded in the post-war period as they made up for years of deferred maintenance. It was the intention to repaint all the Atlantics into lined Malachite green and Marsh ‘H2’ 4-4-2 No 2422 North Foreland was the first to emerge from Brighton Works in this livery in March 1946. No sooner had ‘H1’ No 2038 and all the ‘H2s’ been repainted then nationalisation intervened, calling the policy to a halt. One time Newhaven allocated, North Foreland suffered the ignominy of this rather clumsy makeover into British Railways ownership in 1948 and is seen awaiting departure from London Bridge with what is probably the 5.40pm to East Grinstead in the period before a repaint into BR lined black occurred in March 1951.

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Aside from the boat train traffic, the Newhaven Atlantics covered a daily ‘business’ train to London and back over the Oxted line.

Marsh ‘H2’ 4-4-2 No 32426 St Alban’s Head approaches Selsdon on the 1 in 83 climb from the Brighton main line at South Croydon with the 6.10pm from Victoria to Uckfield via Edenbridge Town on Tuesday, 10 May 1949.

This was the evening return of the 8.18am from Uckfield to Victoria in the morning and is a diagram officially lost to Fairburn 2-6-4Ts when they arrived on the scene in 1951, albeit then still occasionally covered by Atlantics in times of need; Duty 781 in Table Two relates.

Britton Collection

An interesting note detailing the status of the engines either at, or working from, Newhaven on the same day as the image of ‘H2’ No 2426 St Alban’s Head at Selsdon, 10 May 1949. The aforementioned engine and No 2038 Portland Bill, on loan from Brighton to cover for No 2037 Selsey Bill, which was away for an intermediate repair, appear to be the only Atlantics available for traffic.

No 2424 Beachy Head was ‘stopped’ but was also a loan engine from Brighton covering for No 2421 South Foreland, which was away at Eastleigh for a repaint into BR lined black. No 2422 North Foreland was ‘stopped’ and would transfer to Brighton shed the following week, the same week that No 2425 Trevose Head returned from a period working from London sheds after a repair. The fluid nature of engine loans between sheds is worthy of mention, as is the continued use of Southern four-figure locomotive numbers at operational level 17 months after nationalisation. Britton Collection

Locomotive allocations and staff rosters would be worked out and posted each day on the depot wall and were very much a case of here today, gone tomorrow, but a handwritten version of the work duties for Wednesday, 11 May 1949 has survived in a dossier of paperwork from the period. This is the day after the shot of No 2426 St Alban’s Head at Selsdon and indicates a Lazarus-like resurrection in the fortunes of the Atlantic fleet, with four of the five at the depot now available and assigned to duties.

Britton Collection A memo of a meeting at Newhaven on 12 May 1949 where the closure of the shed was under consideration. Stewarts Lane had been providing ‘Schools’ class 4-4-0s Nos 30928 Stowe and 30929 Malvern for boat trains from late 1948 and the amount of work available for the Atlantics had declined. The third rail was energised at Newhaven Harbour Boat Station on 16 July 1947 but services continued to be steam-operated and it was only now that the depot was under threat due to the impending introduction of electric locomotives on the boat trains from Sunday, 22 May 1949. Despite this, there was still work for the Atlantics, including relief trains, and it was not until May 1951 that the last two were transferred away. Britton Collection The fleet at Newhaven in October 1948, with shopping and mileage details. All of the ‘H2’ Atlantics were allocated to the depot until the end of 1948. No 2423 was transferred to Brighton on 14 December 1948 and No 2424 followed on 31 December 1948. Britton Collection

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Table Two Newhaven Loco: Duties 780 and 781: winter 1951 Duty 780 7.22am 10.29am 12.46pm 3.30pm 5.17pm 6.46pm 7.58pm 8.48pm Duty 781 7.13am 9.47am 10.02am 10.30am 3.54pm 5.30pm 7.33pm 8.19pm 8.48pm

LM4 2-6-4T Newhaven Loco Lewes London Bridge New Cross Gate Bricklayers Arms Loco New Cross Gate London Bridge East Grinstead Lewes Newhaven Loco LM4 2-6-4T Newhaven Loco Uckfield Victoria Victoria carriage sidings Stewarts Lane Loco Eardley carriage sidings Victoria Uckfield Lewes Newhaven Loco

7.09am 8.22am 12.40pm 3.12pm 5.07pm 5.40pm 7.06pm 8.25pm

Light engine Passenger Empty coaching stock Light engine Light engine Empty coaching stock Passenger Passenger Coupled (two locos together)

6.40am 8.10am 10.00am 10.16am 3.35pm 5.19pm 6.10pm 7.50pm 8.25pm

Light engine Passenger Propel stock Light engine Coupled (two locos together) Empty coaching stock Passenger Light engine Coupled (two locos together)

The loss of continental boat train traffic and a rebalance in the use of available engines during World War II saw ‘Brighton Atlantics’ transferred to the Western and Eastern sections of the Southern Railway. Peacetime had returned the engines to their normal haunts on the Central Section but being equipped with Westinghouse air pumps assisted a requirement to provide extra trains to the Farnborough Air Show over the weekend of 7/8 July 1950 and saw a pair return on loan to the Western Division, together with other Brighton engines. Marsh ‘H2’ 4-4-2 No 32421 heads out of Waterloo past Vauxhall with an Air Show special to Farnborough composed of borrowed GER air-braked stock on Saturday, 7 July 1950. The annual air show at Farnborough began in 1948 and had swiftly grown into a massive shop window into Britain’s innovative aviation industry. The use of air-braked stock made redundant by electrification out of Liverpool Street station reflects the resourceful culture of the post-war era. Rail-Online Electrification of the main line to Eastbourne and Seaford in the 1930s deprived the route between Lewes and Keymer Junction on the Brighton main line of much of its steam-hauled traffic but the harbour facilities at Newhaven continued to provide boat train traffic, albeit slightly reduced after the introduction of some electric haulage on these trains from 1949. Marsh ‘H2’ 4-4-2 No 32425 Trevose Head ascends the 1 in 143 grade at Hamsey with the 5.48pm boat train from Newhaven Harbour Boat Station to Victoria on Saturday, 7 July 1951. Only one of the five boat trains in the working timetable at this time of day was booked for an electric locomotive, the 5.15pm from Newhaven to Victoria, the others, at 5.32pm, 5.48pm, 6.27pm and 6.48pm were all as required ‘Q’ workings bar the 6.27pm and would provide work for Stewarts Lane ‘Schools’ class 4-4-0s or ‘H2’ 4-4-2 Atlantics from Brighton shed.

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of work ex-LNER suburban stock spare after inauguration of the Liverpool Street-Shenfield electrification. The same month saw ‘Atlantic’ No 32426 St Alban’s Head return from overhaul at Eastleigh in new lined-out British Railways black livery, complete with totem.

All of the remaining ‘Brighton Atlantics’ were eventually brought under one roof when Nos 32421 South Foreland, 32422 North Foreland and 32424 Beachy Head were transferred from Newhaven to join Nos 32425 Trevose Head and 32426 St Alban’s Head at Brighton shed in May 1951. This was swiftly followed by the withdrawal, in the July, of the last two ‘H1s’ at Brighton, Nos 32037 Selsey Bill and 32038 Portland Bill.

A curiosity at this time was reported by an RCTS correspondent on 30 June 1951 – under repair at Brighton shed was ‘the hybrid Atlantic, 32424 Beachy Head, which has a black boiler off 32039 though otherwise green.’ Furthermore, No 32425 Trevose Head was noted as ‘often on relief NewhavenLondon boat trains’, and is reported to have worked from Battersea with a pigeon special down of over 500 tons. The same Saturday of the report, the Brighton-Bournemouth duty was in the hands of No 32422 North Foreland, the long standing job, curtailed earlier in the year, back with Atlantic haulage, presumably from the start of the summer timetable period on Monday, 19 June.

It is on these trains that I best remember the class, my father never letting me forget my distant memories of the ‘Brighton Atlantics’.

Sadly, they are very few and limited, dating back to my early childhood days. My father would often recall that he frequently saw the Atlantics passing our holiday home at Beaulieu Road in the New Forest hauling the eight coach Brighton-Bournemouth trains.

They always appeared to be like very majestic and graceful old ladies effortlessly chuffing up the gradient from Lyndhurst Road and across Matley Heath into the cutting leading up to

By 1950 Brighton shed held an allocation of five Light Pacifics and was responsible for the operation of four long-standing daily trains to other divisions or regions – the Hastings portion of the Margate to Birkenhead service and three trains which headed west, to Cardiff, Plymouth and Bournemouth. Such was the wretched availability of the three-cylinder Pacifics at Brighton at the time that the ‘H2’ Atlantics were kept busy and frequently found to be the engine of choice for the 88-mile run to Bournemouth, a working they had dominated before the Pacifics arrived in 1948.

In the heart of the New Forest, Marsh ‘H2’ 4-4-2 No 32425 Trevose Head is not far from journey’s end as it calls at Brockenhurst with the 9.40am from Brighton to Bournemouth (West). Britton Collection

Beaulieu Road station. On the return working, the Atlantics could be seen sprinting across Woodfidley Passage towards Beaulieu Road station where the driver would shut off steam, allowing his engine to gently glide down the gradient towards Lyndhurst Road; the sound of the ringing rods would echo across the cutting. When visiting my uncle at Wallisdown, we would call in to Bournemouth (Central) to watch the Atlantics. The routine was that on arrival from Brighton with the morning train, the ‘H2’ would be uncoupled and head off light engine to Branksome triangle for turning. The vintage engine would then stop off at Branksome Somerset & Dorset shed for watering, coaling and cleaning out of the smokebox, whilst the footplate crew would refresh themselves and eat their lunch.

Meanwhile, the train, hauled by an ‘M7’ 0-4-4 tank in my recollection, would follow the light engine and make for Bournemouth (West) station.

In the afternoon, the routine for the return train to Brighton was that the Atlantic would back-down tender first to Bournemouth (West) from Branksome shed and then be coupled up to the carriage set. On arrival at Bournemouth (Central) with the Brighton-bound train, the Atlantic’s footplate crew would usually seek a water top up in the tender. While this was being undertaken, it presented an opportunity, with the driver’s permission, to visit the footplate. Being just a

very small lad at the time, my late father would lift me up from the platform. My memory vividly recalls that the footplate of the last Atlantic was almost always spotlessly clean and polished. Strangely, the screw type reverser came back into the cab, and the driver had his wooden seat positioned over the cut-off indicator so that when the position of the gear was altered he was required to get up from his seat and move to the back of the cab to do it. On the other side of the footplate, the steam pressure gauge was located on the fireman’s side, out of sight of the driver – I guess that when the driver wanted to check the steam pressure he had to either cross the footplate or call out to his fireman. The high level of the coal shovel-plate on the tender was noticeably different too. The logic for this was that the coal could be collected at a higher level and delivered to the firehole door on the engine, which was at a lower level, thus the fireman would never be required to lift his coal.

When an Atlantic had raised excess steam whilst waiting at Bournemouth (Central), the Ramsbottom valves would lift, with a similar sound to that from an Isle of Wight Adams boilered ‘O2’ tank. This was a completely different sound to the higher pitch Drummond-boilered ‘M7’ and ‘T9’ classes that we were used to at Bournemouth. Quite often the Atlantics were prone to getting stuck at Bournemouth (Central) prior to departing for Brighton with the afternoon train. When

the guard blew his whistle and waved his green flag, the driver would gently open the regulator, but nothing would happen as the engine was stuck in mid-gear. The brakes would then be released and the whole train would roll back a few feet before the driver could engage the forward gear. They would then gradually depart away around the curve, very slowly and sure-footed under Holdenhurst Road bridge, unlike the lightfooted Bulleid Pacifics. In later years I meet up with Bournemouth driver Stan Symes at the preserved Swanage Railway and we recalled those days when the Atlantics used to regularly get stuck in mid-gear whilst setting away from Bournemouth. As a young fireman, Stan used to delight in sitting on a platform trolley at the end of the up platform to observe this frequent occurrence. He would relish the opportunity to cast a devilish smile, or tut and wince with a disparaging smirk, at the Brighton drivers struggling in their plight.

Not a word was ever exchanged, but Stan used to love the expressions of anger and embarrassment on the Brighton driver’s faces!

If one wanted to watch the Atlantics at work, then the overbridge at Woodfidley in the New Forest was the place to head for as by then on their return journey to Brighton, they would be finding their feet and would elegantly sweep round through the tress in the region of 50mph, passing in an almost dignified way with their 6ft 7½in driving wheels – memories were made of this.

Branksome shed, located inside a triangle of lines leading to Bournemouth (West), had long been used as a staging point for locomotives related to other services using the nearby terminus. A turntable was installed adjacent to the curve from Bournemouth (Central), but was out of use by the 1950s as locomotive diagramming made use of the triangle instead.

Brighton duty 730, employed this practice, with a local engine relieving the Brighton train at Bournemouth (Central) for the trip round to Bournemouth (West), while the train engine ran light to Branksome station to reverse on to Branksome shed. Here the Brighton men could take a break and prepare the loco for the return run, while the stock will have been propelled out of the terminus to the carriage sidings by the local engine. On Tuesday, 1 September 1953, Marsh ‘H2’ 4-4-2 No 32426 St Alban’s Head backs off Branksome shed towards Bournemouth (West) carriage sidings to rejoin its train, and from there it will propel into Bournemouth (West) station ready for departure at 1.50pm.

R Broughton/Colour-Rail.com

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The crew has prepared their engine well and have steam to spare as Marsh ‘H2’ 4-4-2 No 32425 Trevose Head gallops through Boscombe station with the return 1.50pm from Bournemouth (West) to Brighton on Monday, 28 May 1956. Despite being regular performers on this job throughout the early 1950s, for now BR had given up any pretext of it being a Light Pacific diagram and finally listed duty 730 as ‘4P. (H2. Class)’ in 1956. It should perhaps be noted that Brighton sheds problems were exacerbated by a shortage of fitters because growth in the motor trade created a demand for mechanics at considerably higher rates than the railway was able to pay. While a ‘King Arthur’ with a defect could be back in traffic within a day, a Pacific with its more complicated three-cylinder arrangement might take a week. Britton Collection

Happily, after the loss of the last three ‘H1s’ in 1951 there was a break from further erosion of the Atlantic fleet for a while, and a glance at New Year’s Day allocations for 1952, 1953, 1954 and 1955 all read the same – Nos 32421 South Foreland, 32422 North Foreland, 32424 Beachy Head, 32425 Trevose Head, and 32426 St Alban’s Head: ‘In service, 75A. Brighton’.

Although all Brighton allocated, it is interesting to note that the Atlantics were still pitching up on Newhaven boat train duties.

Inevitably, some less glamorous, or out of hours, duties were also undertaken, but such things are less widely reported and often it is photographic evidence that gives a glimpse of the broader brush of work.

During these years, 1951-55, there was some ‘Brighton Atlantic’ railtour activity, such as No 32424 Beachy Head on the Brighton Works Centenary trip run by the Railway Correspondence & Travel Society on 5 October 1952, while No 32425 Trevose Head hauled the same job exactly two-weeks later, one outing clearly not enough for the demand. The same pair were out on the same day on 3 May 1953, with Beachy Head reaching High Wycombe on a British Railways run trip from Brighton, and Trevose Head seeing Stephenson Locomotive Society use for the ‘Portsmouth Special’. The following

year included another odd passenger job for Beachy Head, a BR-organised excursion from Luton being picked up by the ‘H2’ at Clapham Junction and run through to Brighton on 18 April. BR excursions were not widely reported in the railway press as they were aimed at the general public for such things as a day at the beach, so it seems likely that there may well have been similar outings for Atlantics beyond the two listed here.

Meanwhile, definitely for enthusiasts, 1955 saw Nos 32421 South Foreland and 32426 St Alban’s Head on RCTS multi-locomotive tours, the first named working on the ‘Hampshireman’ on 6 February, and the latter on 14 August on the ‘Wealden Limited’, the Atlantic’s leg being from Lewes, through Horsted Keynes and on to New Cross Gate.

As for regular work, that remained quite settled – largely the trips to Bournemouth, inter-regional duties south of Willesden Junction, and some relief boat train work.

However, according to the late Dick Hardy, the demise of the Brighton ‘H2’ Atlantics began on 1 September 1955 when the unique Gresley 4-6-4 No 60700 was working the 3.50pm express from King’s Cross, after it

One semi-regular working that found favour for the Atlantics at Brighton was an evening parcels train to London. Caught in the low evening summer sun, Marsh ‘H2’ 4-4-2 No 32425 Trevose Head saunters past Wycombe on the approach to Clayton tunnel with the 5.30pm parcels from Brighton to London Bridge in August 1956. The working was at the end of a Fairburn ‘4MT’ duty and if there had been any engine failures during the day it proved a useful fall guy to provide a tank locomotive for something else. The train travelled at a leisurely pace, shunting out of the way at Hassocks, calling at Burgess Hill, Hayward Heath, Balcombe, Three Bridges, Horley, Redhill, Merstham and East Croydon, where it sat in the loop platform between 8.29 and 9.25pm before arrival at London Bridge at 9.47pm, over four hours after leaving Brighton.

Return was on the 10.40pm parcels service from London Bridge to Brighton.

Britton Collection

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became derailed at Westwood Junction, Peterborough, which was a result of a broken bogie frame. This was followed, a few months later, with news that the Western Region ‘King’ class was to be temporarily withdrawn from traffic with bogie problems. These unrelated events lead to a thorough inspection of the ‘Brighton Atlantics’ and three of the five were discovered to be defective. After assessment, the Southern Region’s motive power department decided that No 32422 North Foreland could remain in service until the end of the summer 1956 timetable – in reality, it saw little service and some considered it to be a ‘lame duck’ – but Nos 32421 South Foreland and 32426 St Alban’s Head were to be withdrawn sooner as the expense of repairing them was not economically justified; the deed was officially dated 25 August 1956.

That date well into the summer 1956 timetable period perhaps shines a light onto what had evolved from an occasional but not uncommon job, to become booked work, and the loss of these 4-4-2s any earlier may have caused its own issues. In a nutshell, with the Brighton-based Bulleid Pacifics suffering

Summer Saturday inter-regional traffic resumed again in 1949 after its wartime hiatus, and in the early 1950s there were typically eight southbound and seven northbound trains to and from the Southern that were routed through Kensington Olympia in West London, with the Eastern and Midland regions running three each and the Western Region two southbound but only one northbound, as the other return train was routed via Guildford instead. Most locomotive changes between the regions were undertaken here at Kensington Olympia but the London Midland Region opted to do it at Willesden (Mainline) on the northbound trains, and Mitre Bridge Junction on the southbound. The LMR trains were a happy hunting ground for the ‘Brighton Atlantics’ and we find Marsh ‘H2’ 4-4-2 No 32426 St Alban’s Head passing at the head of M76, the 12.35pm Leicester (London Road) to Hastings in this period. Colin Hogg/Kidderminster Railway Museum

wretched availability, matters reached a stage where 2-6-4T engines were being used in their absence. The road along the coast towards Bournemouth was level, and with the load of only eight coaches Brighton duty 730 to Bournemouth was viable for a ‘4P’ tank, but in a surprise move the turn switched in 1956 from a booked Pacific to an Atlantic, which gave a few months’ lease of life to one of the class, as set out in Table Three. The details are as given to the staff involved in the duty, hence the key shown. Furthermore, the associated note for the Brighton men reads ‘No. 2 P. and D. men prepare for 9.25am II. 1st set on duty 9.10am, work, relieved in depot 5.10pm. No. 4 P. and D. men, dispose.’ Cutting through the jargon, the crew that work to and from Bournemouth only needed to book on duty at Brighton shed at 9.10am as preparation and disposal men would get the engine ready, and likewise they can book off virtually on arrival back on shed at Brighton,

with disposal of the loco undertaken by others. In addition, Bournemouth men will have assisted as needed while the Atlantic was on ‘Branksome Loco’, between 12.18pm and 1.20pm.

Interestingly, No 32425 Trevose Head strayed a little west of its usual Kensington Olympia and Willesden inter-regional haunts on 29 July at the head of a Ramblers Association outing billed as ‘The Riverside Special’. The trip started at East Croydon and travelled via Crystal Palace and the West London line, but the rare territory then on offer was a short section of the Great Western & Great Central main line through Seer Green to High Wycombe, and it was then a Western Region engine to Marlow while No 32425 retreated to Slough for servicing. For the return leg from Marlow, the passengers were given a round trip, so Trevose Head picked up the tour at Bourne End, a terminus. Reversal there necessitated a second engine, so

incoming from Marlow was Collett ‘6100’ 2-6-2T No 6151 and outgoing was Trevose Head and the routing was more rare territory in the form of a short section of the Great Western main line, east from Maidenhead, before weaving a path back to the West Table Three Brighton Duty No 730: summer 1956 4P (‘H2’ class) – * 12.09pm 12.18pm 1.25pm – 4.54pm *

Brighton Loco 9.25am Brighton 9.40am B’mouth Central 12.10pm Branksome Loco.

1.20pm B’mouth West sidings Propel B’mouth West 1.50pm Brighton * Brighton Loco –

LE P LE LE B E P LE

Key: B – Bournemouth men will assist, E – Empty stock, LE – Light engine, P – Passenger * – Local move, undertaken when ready.

A regular pattern of work had been established and the start of the summer of 1956 was a busy time for the three Atlantics still in traffic, but on Sunday, 29 July, Marsh ‘H2’ 4-4-2 No 32425 Trevose Head could be found away from its usual haunts on a Ramblers Excursion to Marlow, which it worked from the start point at East Croydon to High Wycombe, from where a Western Region engine took it down the branch while the Atlantic was serviced at Slough shed. Here the returning train, which the engine took over at Bourne End, passes Slough carrying its load of weary travellers, no doubt mostly oblivious to the unusual locomotive taking them home. The engine was actually a stand-in for the booked locomotive, fellow class member No 32422 North Foreland which had failed with a broken left cylinder ahead of the tour. Although still on the books, it had been operating restricted to light duties by this time, so the failure was enough to send it to the naughty list that since May 1956 had also included Nos 32421 and 32426, sidelined but still on paper at least in the active fleet.

Britton Collection

SEPTEMBER 2024

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The transfer of No 32425 Trevose Head to stationary boiler duties at Slades Green left Marsh ‘H2’ 4-4-2 No 32424 Beachy Head as the last member of the class in traffic, albeit mainly confined to the storage roads at Brighton shed. Its slumber was awoken in early 1957 however, when it was called upon to work the East Sussex part of the LCGB’s ‘Southern Counties Limited’ railtour between Kew East Junction and Horsted Keynes on 24 February. The weather on the day reflected the state of the shabby peeling paintwork as Beachy Head takes water at Oxted. Ken Wightman/Britton Collection

London line. Family friend, photographer R C ‘Dick’ Riley recalled to my father and I that the last Atlantic appearance on a relief Newhaven boat train was with the same loco on 5 August 1956, so exactly a week after the Bourne End trip. According to Dick, No 32425 was in good nick and steamed well, hauling the 450 ton trains, which included the up 6.23am Newhaven to Victoria, the returning 10.25am, and followed by a final trip on the up 5.41pm service.

The following month however, Trevose Head was withdrawn from service, much to the surprise of many at the time, but it was later revealed that this loco had badly cracked frames and worn cylinders. The operating authorities however, had other ideas as this free-steaming Atlantic entered Brighton Works where the boiler pressure was reduced from 170psi to 100psi and the motion taken down. The 4-4-2 was then towed to Slade Green in December 1956 where it was used as the stationary boiler, before eventually returning to Brighton Works to be broken up in August 1957.

The loss of Nos 32422 North Foreland and 32425 Trevose Head on 8 September 1956 left just No 32424 Beachy Head to fly the flag for the ‘Brighton Atlantics’. For much of the early part of 1957, Beachy Head was stored out in the open at Brighton shed, and being exposed to the sea air and the elements, the paintwork began to visibly, and rapidly, deteriorate. My father recalled to me that the surviving Atlantic was cleaned up in July 1957 ready for the Eastleigh Works open day display, and remarkably he noted with Dick Riley that the engine’s black BR paintwork and earlier Southern green livery was peeling away to reveal the original ‘Brighton’ umber coats of paint. The late Harry Frith of Eastleigh Railway Preservation Society fame, the ‘S15’ group, worked at Eastleigh Works at the time that Beachy Head was exhibited and he often shared with railway enthusiasts that the last Atlantic was being considered for future preservation.

However, other Great Northern Railway Atlantics had been identified as candidates.

This was in the days before railway preservation was far from common beyond

The summer of 1957 saw the last ‘Brighton Atlantic’ popping up on the Bournemouth turn and on the inter-regional duties via Kensington Olympia once again, a duty it shared with ‘Schools’ 4-4-0s, Billinton ‘K’ 2-6-0s and others, before dropping back into store again after the Christmas van specials. Withdrawal would have probably been a formality then were it not for a request from the RCTS to work a train in 1958, and so after a tidy up and run out on the evening van train to London Bridge all was set for a fitting finale. After a gallant run down from London, Marsh ‘H2’ 4-4-2 No 32424 Beachy Head has arrived at Newhaven with ‘The South Coast Limited’ railtour and gains the attention of the tour participants on Sunday, 13 April 1958. The move to Eastleigh for breaking up came at the head of the 7.28am from Lancing to Micheldever, an empty stock train on 24 April 1958.

Trevor Owen/Britton Collection

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what would become the National Collection, and consequently No 32424 Beachy Head was out in the cold and subsequently condemned.

I was not present to see No 32424 Beachy Head on its final duty, which was to haul the RCTS ‘Sussex Coast Limited’ railtour on Sunday, 13 April 1958. This left London (Victoria) at 10.25am, running non-stop to Newhaven with a replica boat train, complete with a Pullman buffet car. Dick Riley related to us, ‘She covered herself in glory to the end, recording the run in 70 minutes against an 80 minute schedule.’ According to the records, Beachy Head was officially withdrawn from service in the week ending 3 May 1958, and was then dispatched to Eastleigh for scrapping.

The two Dicks (Riley and Hardy) would oft reminisce with my late father about the demise of Beachy Head – they felt much aggrieved that the last ‘Brighton Atlantic’ was sent for scrap.

Now with the new replica Atlantic already steamed at the Bluebell, a new era for the class begins, that ‘wrong’ of May 1957 now being put right. Congratulations to all involved in the creation of the new Beachy Head.

New faces on the Highland lines

The ‘Big Four’ and British Railways eras saw former Highland Railway metals enjoy a surprising variety of motive power – John Roake offers an overview of ‘foreign’ types drafted in, regular visitors, and new classes of LMS and BR origin.

I

n 1923, at Grouping, all of the individual railway companies except the mighty Great Western Railway lost their identities, the Highland Railway becoming part of the London, Midland & Scottish Railway. At that point in time the Highland Railway possessed 173 locomotives, but only 150 were taken over by the LMS. The first new arrival on former Highland territory was ex-Glasgow & South Western Railway (G&SWR) Smellie class ‘218’ 0-4-0ST No 658 (LMS No 16040), still in that

Signs on the wall marked ‘Clan’ and ‘Castle’ reveal this ex-G&SWR ‘Pug’ to be far from home, 0-4-0ST No 658 with its new LMS livery and number as 16040, in pride of place at Inverness shed on Monday, 21 May 1928, and having a variety of other tank engines for company. The roundhouse here dated from 1863 and had no less than 31 covered roads, and three lines feeding in/out of the turntable. One of a pair of engines built by Andrew Barclay, Sons & Co Ltd as class ‘218’ in 1881, the doyen of the class entered departmental stock in 1925 and was withdrawn in 1928, whereas the pictured saddle tank, variously numbered, 219, 219A (in 1900) and then 659 (in 1919) would soldier on until December 1932. H C Casserley/Author’s Collection

company’s livery; it was brought in to work the Inverness Harbour branch. For that branch, the Canal Basin and shunting around Inverness and its motive power depot, several ‘Pug’ engines, mostly ex-Caledonian Railway, made their appearance over the years, among them Drummond ‘264’ class 0-4-0ST No 16011 from the Dawsholm sub-shed at Yoker, and ‘Killin’ 0-4-2ST ‘262’ class No 15001 (in 1933). In addition, McIntosh era ‘264’ No 56038 (originally CR No 463 and then LMS No 16038) also had Dawsholm history when it served Inverness in British Railways days, while the ex-North British Railway series ‘32’ or class ‘G’ version of the same 0-4-0ST ‘Pug’ type – it was really a

Neilson & Co Ltd design adopted by both the CR and NBR – made an unexpected appearance in 1950 in the form of No 68108, but it only remained for a short while.

Several engines were tried out on the Highland lines in LMS days: one was ex-Midland Railway 2-4-0 No 4, mostly on the Kyle line where its rigid wheelbase deemed it unsuitable; both an ex-London & North Western Railway 0-6-2 ‘Coal Tank’ and a former G&SWR Manson class ‘266’ 0-4-4T were seen in the Dingwall area, the former being noted at Strathpeffer in 1931. Three years previously, the Strathpeffer Spa branch had also played host to an LMS Sentinel steam railcar as a trial. While those are the oddities,

Dugald Drummond ‘Caley’ class ‘264’ No 16011 at work in Inverness on 11 August 1939. Essentially a Neilson design with Drummond tweaks, this 0-4-0ST was completed at St Rollox Works in August 1885 as CR No 270, the LMS rating it ‘0F’. Its usefulness was not so much its power but its short wheelbase of just 7ft, and its dumb buffers to prevent buffer-lock on even the tightest curves, although it does seem to be coping well with this mixed goods. The BP logo seen was introduced in 1920 and 10 years later was incorporated within a ‘shield’ shape. The six pointed star (introduced in 1913) indicates the wagon can be used in a ‘fast traffic’ train – average speed 35mph and no more than 40 miles between stops. The immediate predecessors to this ‘Pug’ were class ‘262’ and were blessed with bunkers, but the ‘264s’ instead gained the wooden ‘engine tender’, as seen, which bumped up the miserly 11cwt coal capacity by about 1½ tons; water capacity was 800 gallons. No 16011 proved to be a long-term Inverness loco, eventually being withdrawn as BR No 56011 in January 1959. Les Hanson-David Hanson Archive

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Used on the harbour and canal basin branches, LMS ‘0F’ 0-4-2ST No 15001 is seen at rest on Inverness shed on Thursday, 5 August 1937. One of a pair of Dugald Drummond-designed ‘Killin Tanks’, class ‘262’, the doyen served from June 1885 through to 1928, with the pictured No 263, as was, still going strong through to April 1947.

In terms of leading dimensions, the wheelbase is 7ft + 6ft 9in, cylinders 14in x 20in, and driving wheels 3ft 8in, with 2ft 6in solid (rather than spoked) wheels for the trailing set, the total weight is 31 tons 4cwt. The trailing axle had side-play but was not radial, and the reversing lever is on the right-hand (this) side, as is the Westinghouse pump, which was fitted in about 1887. A N H Glover/Kidderminster Railway Museum

In 1928 the LMS sent ex-Midland Railway Kirtley ‘156’ class 2-4-0 No 4 to Inverness for trials, these proving unsuccessful. This picture from 1928 shows it on shunting duties at Inverness station, before being returned south. Outshopped new from Derby Works as MR No 115 in November 1866, 14 years later the 2-4-0 was on the duplicate list as No 115A, but an 1880 rebuild saw it return to the capital list, this time as No 89. It was back on the duplicate list in November 1896, as No 89A, and was rebuilt again in December 1897, becoming No 4. Its third rebuild, in 1915, was followed by reboilering 12 years later, so the year before this photograph was taken. Time would finally run out for this loco with 64 years of use under its belt, in December 1930. Author’s Collection

A little more than 2¼ miles out from Dingwall, the Kyle of Lochalsh route reached Fodderty, junction for the Strathpeffer branch of 1885.

The 2-2-2 first used here only lasted about five years, until 0-4-4 tank engines name Strathpeffer prevailed, but in about 1927 there was change, and for some time. On this occasion the branch service is in the hands of a Webb ‘Coal Tank’. No 7727 is seen at Strathpeffer station whilst being trialled on the Highland. This 0-6-2T was built as L&NWR No 2363 in April 1886 and would serve until March 1936, but not for long here. An LMS Sentinel railcar was nominally on the branch in May 1928, but despite the easy gradients it was not the long-term solution and thus the ‘Coal Tank’ found itself within an interesting mix of power provided while the job was still being covered; the line eventually closed to passengers from 23 February 1946.

J W Armstrong/Author’s Collection

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Table One Samples of non ex-Highland Railway locomotive allocations at Inverness Shed/loco type LMS Stanier ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0

1935

1942

Circa 1954

5008 17, 5027-29

Fowler ‘3F’ 0-6-0T

7333, 7541

5005-18, 5053, 5066, 5083, 5084 5090, 5098, 5120-24, 5159-62 5192, 5319, 5320, 5359-61 7333, 7541

44718, 44719, 44722-24, 44783-85, 44788, 44789, 44798, 44799, 44991 44992, 45066, 45090, 45098, 45123, 45124, 45179, 45192, 45320, 45360, 45361, 45453, 45461, 45476-79 47541

15001 16011 15103 15199, 15226

15001 16011 15103 15199*, 15226*

16291

16291, 16293, 16301 17330

Ex-Caledonian Railway Drummond 0-4-0ST Drummond 0-4-0ST Drummond 0-4-4T McIntosh 0-4-4T Pickersgill 0-4-4T McIntosh 0-6-0T Drummond 0-6-0 McIntosh 0-6-0 McIntosh 4-4-0 Pickersgill 4-4-0

17606

56011, 56038 55126, 55160, 55199 55231 56262, 56291, 56293, 56299, 56341 57591, 57597, 57634, 57642 54439, 54458 54463, 54470, 54471, 54484, 54487, 54496

14331, 14340, 14348

Ex-Glasgow & South Western Railway Drummond 2-6-0

17821, 17822, 17829

Ex-London, Brighton & South Coast Railway Stroudley ‘D1’ 0-4-2T

2358, 2699

* The Fort George regular engine in 1942 was ex-CR 0-4-4T No 15226, with No 15199 as the reserve engine.

It was not until BR days that sheds such as Helmsdale, Wick, and Kyle of Lochalsh received separate shed codes, prior to that their allocated locos were just listed as being part of the Inverness or Perth North fleet.

slowly many types of ‘Caley’ locomotive drifted northwards to take over secondary duties, mostly Pickersgill 4-4-0s (becoming known on the Highland as ‘Caley Bens’), McIntosh 0-6-0s (‘Caley Barneys’) and 0-4-4 and 0-6-0 tank engines. The accompanying tables show, in shed-by-shed form – Inverness in Table One and the smaller sheds in Table Two – across three sample years how this migration of former Caledonian Railway locomotives accelerated under British Railways, with many of these staying until the elimination of steam on the Highland lines.

The year 1927 saw the first of the newly-built LMS Standard classes appear on the Highland lines, with seven Fowler ‘4F’ 0-6-0 engines being sent to Perth, Nos 4312-18 – apparently, the ex-Highland crews reckoned that they were ‘not too good’ for the Highland lines.

Fowler ‘3F’ 0-6-0Ts also came to Inverness, Nos 16415, 16416 and 16624 being noted. As well as shunting in Inverness, they also appeared on the Hopeman and Strathpeffer branches. In complete contrast to these mass-produced types, far from standard were three ex-Glasgow & South Western 0-4-4 tanks that came north to Inverness (was the one at Dingwall the pathfinder?), Nos 16081, 16083 and 16084 – just six of these Kilmarnock-built Manson 0-4-4Ts of class ‘266’ were built, in 1906, the examples here originating as G&SWR Nos 267, 269 and 270 respectively, and rather frustratingly they proved camera-shy on the Highland. No 16084 was a 1930 casualty, and the class became extinct in November 1932, so presumably the northern soirée was a bid to find them useful work in their final days. Similarly, in 1932 there appeared at Blair Atholl shed two ex-Glasgow & South Western Railway 0-6-2Ts, Nos 16902 and 16907, to assist with banking duties for the climb to Druimuachdair summit; these were Whitelegg-designed and NBL-built, in 1919, and were from a class of just 10 locos.

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Table Two Samples of non ex-Highland Railway locomotive allocations at other ex-HR sheds Shed/loco type Burghead LMS Fowler ‘3F’ 0-6-0T Perth North Ex-Caledonian Railway McIntosh 0-4-4T

1935

1942

16415*

15215#

Aviemore LMS Stanier ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0

45136

Ex-Caledonian Railway McIntosh 4-4-0 Pickersgill 4-4-0 McIntosh 0-4-4T McIntosh 0-6-0

14338, 14434 15133

Ex-Glasgow & South Western Railway Drummond 2-6-0 Forres LMS Fowler ‘3F’ 0-6-0T

54455, 54466 54488, 54493 55174 57586

17826

7540

Ex-Caledonian Railway McIntosh 0-4-4T McIntosh 0-6-0T McIntosh 0-6-0 McIntosh 4-4-0 Pickersgill 4-4-0

15220 16299, 16301 14432, 14333, 14337

Helmsdale Ex-Caledonian Railway Pickersgill 4-4-0 McIntosh 0-6-0

55178 56301 57620 54472, 54473, 54482

54480, 54495 57587

Wick Ex-Caledonian Railway Drummond 0-4-4T McIntosh 0-6-0T McIntosh 0-6-0 McIntosh 4-4-0 Pickersgill 4-4-0 Blair Atholl Ex-G&SWR Whitelegg ‘3F’ 0-6-2T

circa1954

15103

16902

56236 57585 54459 54491

16902, 16907

* In 1935, LMS 0-6-0T No 16415 was stationed at Burghead to work the branch from there to Hopeman. # Ex-CR 0-4-4T No 15215 was out-stationed from Perth North shed to work the Aberfeldy branch.

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The Fowler ‘4F’ 0-6-0 type was built from 1924 and eventually numbered 575 engines, the pictured example being one of 60 built at the former Caledonian Railway Works at St Rollox, Glasgow, in this case in March 1925. In August 1939, LMS No 4186 takes a southbound train of empty coaching stock over Druimuachdar summit on the Highland main line from Inverness to Perth. At 1,484ft, this is the highest main line railway summit in Britain; note the summit board on the left. The southbound climb is about 14 miles to this point, virtually from Newtonmore, but with the steepest section, 1 in 80, immediately after Dalwhinnie. With all that achieved, a 1 in 78 downhill stretch is at hand, but the lengthy descent to Blair Atholl, about 17 miles, is 1 in 70 at its steepest. S H Freeze/Highland Railway Society Collection

About 10 miles east of Inverness, the Moray Firth community of Ardersier was chosen as the location for Fort George station, despite being about 1½ miles short of that military installation. Opened on 1 July 1899, the terminus of the short branch from Gollanfield Junction, on the Highland Railway’s main line from Inverness to Nairn, is recorded on 15 May 1928 with LMS Fowler ‘3F’ 0-6-0T No 16416 standing alongside the platform with its short train. The passenger service proved to be a wartime loss, from 5 April 1943, although troop trains ran into the 1950s; the line’s full abandonment came on 11 August 1958. The ‘Jinty’ 0-6-0Ts were mass produced from 1924, this example, new to traffic in July 1926, being one of 75 erected by the North British Locomotive Co Ltd; in all, 422 were built. H C Casserley/Highland Railway Society Collection Some 26 miles further east along the Moray coast, another of the LMS standard Fowler ‘3F’ 0-6-0Ts, No 16415, rests between duties at Burghead shed on 13 September 1935. Passenger services on the Alves to Burghead and Hopeman branch had ceased four years previously, so shunting at Burghead harbour was now the main duty for the engine, which was nominally allocated to Inverness MPD but sub-shedded to Burghead. NBL built and new to traffic in July 1926, at nationalisation the pictured ‘3F’ would be at Polmadie. Burghead shed is thought to have closed in 1938, with the goods work then covered by Forres shed; the line closed from 7 November 1966. H D Bowtell/Highland Railway Society Collection

SEPTEMBER 2024

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At the southern end of the long climb to Druimuachdar summit, we look across the Highland main line at the two-road Blair Atholl shed which proved over the years to be home for many interesting incomers in terms of ‘strangers’ to the Highland, primarily thanks to its banking requirement.

During 1937 the banking tank at rest is a former G&SWR 0-6-2T, LMS No 16902. Rated ‘3F’ post-Grouping, it was built by NBL (Works No 22071) and entered service as G&SWR No 2 in May 1919, the order being placed by Peter Drummond but with the design tweaked by Whitelegg as an evolved ‘45’ class, such as increasing the water capacity from 1,800 to 1,910 gallons. Interestingly, they were right-hand drive. Previously LMS No 16402 until 1926, this loco would serve until December 1938. Peter D T Pescod/Transport Treasury ‘Caley’ class ‘171’ No 15103 (CR No 177 of February 1886) on the turntable behind Wick shed circa 1937 with cattle wagons and the station as a backdrop. Designed for light branch work and Westinghouse-fitted, the pictured 4-4-0T made Wick its home for many years, its duties being on the 13½ mile Wick & Lybster Light Railway that extended south from here. Remarkably, after June 1933 No 15103 was the sole survivor of its class of 24 engines and although the line to Lybster was closed from 1 April 1944 its ‘1P’-rated tank engine even squeezed out a few more months on the books, its loss finally realised in November 1945.

Millbrook House/Kidderminster Railway Museum

Smith-designed ‘River’ class 4-6-0 No 14759 draws its Inverness to Perth express away from Pitlochry on a typical Highland day – it is either raining or soon will be! Built by Hawthorn, Leslie in 1915 and expected to be Highland Railway No 73 River Findhorn, weight restrictions at that time saw it instead sold off to the Caledonian Railway and become the un-named No 941. Equipped with 21in x 28in cylinders, and with Walschaerts valve gear driving 6ft wheels, these were impressive machines and their banning from Highland Railway use saw locomotive superintendent F G Smith resign and Christopher Cumming take over locomotive matters. After about a decade elsewhere, the class became Highland main line engines thanks to LMS investment. As LMS ‘4P’, No 14759 would serve until February 1939. Author’s Collection

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