Caledonian Railway 944 Class Explained

Caledonian Railway 944 Class
Powertype:Steam
Designer:William Pickersgill
Builder:North British Locomotive Company, Hyde Park Works, Glasgow
Serialnumber:21480-21491
Builddate:1917
Totalproduction:12
Whytetype:4-6-2T
Driverdiameter:5inchesft9inchesin (ftin)[1]
Boilerpressure:170psi
Cylindercount:Two, outside
Cylindersize:19.5x
Valvegear:Stephenson
Tractiveeffort:20804lbf
Operator:CRLMS BR
Operatorclass:CR: 944
Powerclass:LMS: 4P
Withdrawndate:1946-1953
Disposition:All scrapped

The Caledonian Railway 944 Class were 4-6-2T passenger tank locomotives designed by William Pickersgill and built in 1917, at the North British Locomotive Company's Hyde Park Works in Glasgow. They were the Caledonian Railway's only Pacific-type.

Overview

Although the Caledonian Railway built a long and successful series of small 0-4-4T passenger tank engines, the twelve locomotives of the 944 Class were the only large passenger tanks operated by the company. They shared much of their design with the contemporary 60 Class 4-6-0s.[2] They were originally used on the Inverclyde Line and so gained the nickname 'Wemyss Bay Pugs' amongst enginemen.

The locomotives passed into the ownership of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) upon its formation in 1923, and were repainted from Caledonian blue into LMS crimson lake livery, although within a few years this gave way to lined black livery. They were later displaced from the Inverclyde line by LMS Fowler and Fairburn 2-6-4Ts and by the time of nationalisation in 1948, the surviving locomotives were all allocated to Beattock shed, primarily for banking duties on Beattock Summit. They were all withdrawn and scrapped between 1946 and 1953.

Numbering and locomotive histories

CR no.LMS no.BR no.Builder's no.DeliveredWithdrawn
9441535055350NBL 2148003/191704/1952
94515351(55351)NBL 2148103/191712/1948
9461535255352NBL 2148201/191703/1952
9471535355353NBL 2148301/191708/1951
9481535455354NBL 2148401/191708/1949
94915355(55355)NBL 2148501/191701/1948
9501535655356NBL 2148601/191706/1950
95115357NBL 2148701/191707/1946
95215358NBL 2148804/191705/1946
9531535955359NBL 2148904/191710/1953
9541536055360NBL 2149005/191702/1952
9551536155361NBL 2149105/191706/1952
sources: BritishSteam,[3] Longworth (2005) p167 [4]

References

  1. Casserley, H. C. & Johnston, S.W. (1966), Locomotives at the Grouping 3: London Midland and Scottish, Ian Allan, p.160
  2. Essery, Bob & Jenkinson, David (1986), An Illustrated History of L.M.S. Locomotives, Volume Three: Absorbed Pre-Group Classes, Northern Division, OPC, p.61
  3. Web site: BritishSteam locomotive information . BritishSteam.com . 2016-03-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130404044057/http://www.britishsteam.com/php_lms/usr_lms.php# . 4 April 2013 . dead . dmy-all .
  4. Longworth, Hugh (2005), British Railways Steam Locomotives 1948-1968, Oxford Publishing Co., p.167