The Highland Railway Loch classlocomotives were large
4-4-0s normally used north of
Inverness. They were introduced in 1896, to the design of David Jones. Fifteen were built by
Dübs and Company in Glasgow, all going into traffic between July and September 1896. Three more were built in 1917 by Dübs' successor, the
North British Locomotive Company (NBL).
Design
They had the typical Jones appearance with outside cylinders, domed cab roof, louvred chimney, but, as with the
Jones Goods class 4-6-0, the Allan style front framing was dispensed with.
Allan valve gear was still used.
These were needed primarily for the increased traffic on the
Kyle line where they were the heaviest locomotives permitted. This period was when the initial traffic of the
United States effort in
World War I was flowing, and much was brought to the west coast of
Scotland in an effort to reduce the effect of the
U-boat menace. The trains ran from Kyle to
Invergordon so it was a wholly HR traffic.
Only two survived into
British Railways (BR) ownership in 1948. Neither received their allocated BR number before being withdrawn in 1948 ('Loch Insh') and 1950 ('Loch Tay').
References
Baxter, Bertram (1984). Baxter, David (ed.). British Locomotive Catalogue 1825–1923, Volume 4: Scottish and remaining English Companies in the LMS Group. Ashbourne, Derbyshire: Moorland Publishing Company. pp. 194–195.
Casserley, H. C. & Johnston, Stuart W. (1974) [1966]. Locomotives at the Grouping 3: London, Midland and Scottish Railway. Shepperton, Surrey:
Ian Allan. p. 141.
ISBN0-7110-0554-0.