EDWARDIAN ELEGANCE: THE HIGHLAND RAILWAY AND PETER DRUMMOND'S 'SCRAP' TANK ENGINES

摘要

Ron Isted concludes his description of three Scottish Highland Railway shunters that were thriftily built from scrap parts! The Lochgorm works plate, fig 3, fixed to the splasher over the leading coupled wheels, measured approximately 8in. by 4in. and was cast in brass, engraved and filled with black wax. None of the 42 locomotives built at Lochgorm between 1869 and 1906 was given a works number, although they did carry the year of construction. The number plate (fig 4) measured 18in. by 11in., and was also cast in brass, engraved and filled with black. Although my principal drawing shown above (see M.E. 4336, 10 October 2008 for large colour version), depicts No. 22, the first of the 'Scrap Tanks', because it has been scaled mainly from photographs of that engine, fig 4 on the other hand, shows the number plate from No. 23, since it constitutes a further example of Highland Railway eccentricity. You will have already observed, I hope, that the figure '3' has a square top, the only instance on the railway, all other plates having a rounded top to this figure, in other words a mirror image of the lower half. I have absolutely no idea why No. 23 should have been honoured with this unique style. A further graphic peculiarity is that the letter 'G' in the word Highland was a different shape on the number plates compared to the same letter on the works plates. As a matter of interest. Figure 5 shows the Highland Railway crest, although it was never applied to the Scrap Tanks, and in fact did not appear on any locomotive, as far as I know, until the advent of the two elegant 4-4-Os, Nos. 73 and 74, in 1916. It had, however, been used on new corridor coaches since 1912, two representations on each side.