The first public steaming of the Scottish Railway Society's flagship Caledonian Railway No.419 took place at Falkirk in Autumn 1971.Over the next few years she made appearances at various events,the culmination being the main line run to Shildon for the 150th anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1975. In 1982 she was taken to the Society's new home a Bo'ness to become the mainstay of passenger services.Her boiler certificate expired at the end of 1990.This was CR No.419 at the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway in 1996 having it's boiler,frames and wheel sets lifted by Ainscough Crane Hire for a major overhaul.To see more of my full video of CR No.419 rebuild please click on the link - • Video
0-4-4T Caledonian Railway, 439 Class No. 419 (BR No.55189)
Caledonian Railway No.419 is a member of the “439” class, designed by J.F.McIntosh. Ninety-two engines of this type were built between 1900 and 1925, most of them at the company’s St Rollox works in Glasgow. They saw duty all over the Caledonian system, on suburban passenger trains, branch line work, train banking duties and shunting. No.419 was built at St Rollox in 1907.The arrangement of four driving wheels and a four wheel trailing bogie (an arrangement described by the American Whyte notation as “0-4-4”) gave these locomotives a short rigid wheelbase which helped them negotiate tight curves. For a tank engine, the driving wheels are large diameter - 5ft 9ins (1.75m). As a result, the locomotive travels further for every revolution, and so these locomotives had a good turn of speed. The two steam cylinders are as large as can be accommodated between the locomotive frames. Their size ensured that these locomotives could develop adequate power, and their position inside the frames, in preference to outside, reduced the twisting couple created by the connecting rod forces so that these were smooth running locomotives.
To work its trains, the Caledonian Railway adopted the air brake invented by the American George Westinghouse in 1869. This kind of brake, now used by railways everywhere, is worked by compressed air. The brake must fail safe (i.e. it must automatically apply in the event of a failure). So that each vehicle in a train has air available to operate the brake in an emergency, each carries an auxiliary air tank, and it is air from this tank that is admitted to the brake cylinders. This leads to the difficulty that the air available is limited by the size of the tank, and if the brake is released and reapplied in close succession, without the auxiliary tank having had time to recharge, the brake force will be lost. To avoid this difficulty, drivers used a technique of applying the brake with increasing force, without release, up to the point where the train stopped.
These locomotives were thus ideal for suburban passenger work - their large wheels ensured that they could accelerate fast from station stops, and the air brake ensured that they stopped rapidly as well.
No.419 still has its original air brake fittings. When the LMS railway (successor to the Caledonian) standardised on the vacuum brake system, it did not remove the air brake equipment from locomotives which were themselves braked by air. As a result, the rhythmic thumping of the air pump remains characteristic of this locomotive.
No.419 was renumbered 15189 by the LMS, and 55189 by BR.
Locomotives of this type were used everywhere on the Caledonian system, and no.419 was variously shedded at Polmadie, Lockerbie, Ardrossan and Edinburgh Dalry Road. The locomotive was at Polmadie from 1952 to 1959, where work included suburban passenger traffic and station pilot duties at Glasgow Central. From then until withdrawal in December 1962, the locomotive was at Carstairs.
As the last example of its type, no.55189 well deserved preservation, but the recently formed Scottish Railway Preservation Society (SRPS) had difficulty finding the asking price of £750. Only a generous donation by Mr W.E.C. Watkinson secured the Caley tank for posterity, in March 1964. Mr Watkinson also provided the funds which paid for the restoration of the locomotive to Caledonian blue livery, which was carried out during the summer of 1964 at Cowlairs Works in Glasgow. In April 1965, no.419 became the first occupant of the society's depot at Falkirk.
28 май 2019
