Steam Locomotives of a More Leisurely Era 1918 – ‘Clan’& ‘Clan Goods’ Highland Railway

Steam Locomotives of a More Leisurely Era

1918 – ‘Clan’& ‘Clan Goods’

Highland Railway

Clan Mackinnon as running in 1928

C.Cumming was the last locomotive superintendent on the Highland Railway and his contribution to the locomotive stock consisted of two large 4-4-0s in 1916, followed by two classes of 4-6-0s, each consisting of eight engines, which appeared between 1917 and 1921.

The passenger type (the ‘Clan’ class) were Nos. 49 and 51-7, four of which came out in 1919 and the other four in 1921.  The smaller-wheeled variety were intended for freight work, but in later years were used for passenger work on the Kyle road.  These were Nos. 75-82, the first four built in 1917 and the remainder in 1919.  All of both classes were built by Hawthorn Leslie & Co.  At the grouping they became LMS Nos. 14762-9 and 17950-7.

The ‘Clans’ did good service over the Highland main line, and after the grouping several were transferred to the Oban line of the Caledonian.  They were taken out of service from 1943 onwards.  The last to survive was ‘Clan Mackinnon’, withdrawn in 1950 as BR No. 54767.  The ‘Clan goods’ were withdrawn between 1946 and 1952.  Five of them survived to carry BR numbers 57950-1 and 5794-6.

‘Clan’ – Driving wheels – 6’ 0”,  Cylinders – 21”x 26”,  Pressure – 175 lb.,  Tractive effort – 23690 lb.,  Weight – 62¼ tons,  LMS classification – 4P,  BR classification – 4P

‘Clan goods’ – Driving wheels – 5’ 3”,  Cylinders – 20½”x 26”,  Pressure – 175 lb.,  Tractive effort – 25800 lb.,  Weight – 56½ tons,  LMS classification – 4F,  BR classification – 4MT