The Caledonian Railway 812 and 652 Classes were 0-6-0 steam

tender locomotive A tender is a special railroad car, rail vehicle hauled by a steam locomotive containing its fuel (wood fuel, wood, coal, fuel oil, oil or torrefaction, torrefied biomass) and water. Steam locomotives consume large quantities of water compared ...

s designed by John F. McIntosh for the

Caledonian Railway The Caledonian Railway (CR) was one of the two biggest of the five major Scottish railway companies prior to the 1923 Grouping. It was formed in 1845 with the objective of forming a link between English railways and Glasgow. It progressively ex ...

and introduced in 1899. They had the same boiler type as the 721 “Dunalastair” Class

4-4-0 4-4-0, in the Whyte notation, denotes a steam locomotive with a wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles (usually in a leading bogie), four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and no trailing wheels. First built in the ...

s. They could reach speeds of up to .

Construction

96 locomotives were built, as follows: Seventeen were fitted with the

Westinghouse air brake The Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation (WABCO) was an American company founded on September 28, 1869 by George Westinghouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Earlier in the year he had invented the railway air brake in New York state. A ...

s for passenger train working, including the only surviving engine of the class, No. 828. All 96 passed to the

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with London and North Eastern Railway, LNER, Great Western Railway, GWR and Southern Railway (UK), SR. The London, Midland an ...

at the

1923 grouping The Railways Act 1921 ( 11 & 12 Geo. 5. c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an act of Parliament enacted by the British government, and was intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grou ...

. Only three, 17567, 17598 and 17610 (all 812s), had been withdrawn by the time of nationalisation in 1948. The last locomotive in service was not withdrawn until 1963.

Preservation

Locomotive 828 (LMS 17566, BR 57566) is the sole survivor of the class and is an important example of Scottish industrial heritage. It is based at the Strathspey Railway. It was returned to regular service in 2010 and then again in March 2017 following heavy repairs. 828 is the final member of the first batch of engines built in 1899. Since 2022 it has been on long term hire to the

Spa Valley Railway The Spa Valley Railway (SVR) is a Standard-gauge railway, standard gauge heritage railway in the United Kingdom that runs from Tunbridge Wells West railway station in Royal Tunbridge Wells to High Rocks railway station, High Rocks, Groombri ...

in Kent. where it joined fellow Caledonian survivor

419 Year 419 ( CDXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Monaxius and Plinta (or, less frequently, year 1172 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 419 for th ...

during the Scottish Steam Up over Easter 2022.

Belgian derivatives

Belgian State Railways The Belgian State Railways ( ; ) was the original state-owned railway of Belgium. Established by an organic law of 1 May 1834, it began construction of its first line, between Brussels and Mechelen on 1 June 1834. This line, which was opened on 5 ...

(SNCB-NMBS) derived three series of steam locomotives (891 units) from the class 812 between 1899 and 1914. They had a shallower firebox, able to burn semi-bituminous coal and

briquette A briquette (; also spelled briquet) is a compressed block of coal dust or other combustible biomass material (e.g. charcoal, sawdust, wood chips, peat, or paper) used for fuel and kindling to start a combustion, fire. The term is a diminutive der ...

s, allowing a shorter wheelbase due to its positioning above the rear axle. There were three classes: * Type 30 – first variant with several details in common with the Caledonian engines (cab windows, gauges, and tender coupling). 82 built between 1899 and 1901. * Type 32 (later renamed Type 44) – more powerful and fitted with a Belgian cab, higher steam pressure, new gauges and tender coupling. 502 built between 1901 and 1910. * (later renamed Type 41) – same features but improved with a Schmidt

superheater A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into superheated steam or dry steam. Superheated steam is used in steam turbines for electricity generation, in some steam engines, and in processes such as steam reforming. ...

. 307 built between 1905 and 1914. Until 1909, they were the only new engines used with freight trains. They were also used on suburban and local passenger trains and some expresses on hilly sections. Most of them were retired between 1947 and 1959. Some of them were then used as stationary boilers and two of them (44.225 and 41.195) survive in museums. A third one (44.021) was kept as a parts donor and scrapped in 2002.

Models

Rails of Sheffield Rails of Sheffield is a British retailer and manufacturer of model railway paraphernalia founded in Sheffield, England, in 1970 by Hedley Francis Barber (1929–2015). The shop, which is located on Chesterfield Road, which has seen numerous e ...

announced at the opening of Model Rail Scotland on 23 February 2018, that in conjunction with

Bachmann Bachmann is a surname of Switzerland and Germany. It originates as a description of the bearer as dwelling near a brook (''Bach''), such as a farm "Hofstatt am Bach" also called "Bachmanns Hofstatt" near Hinwil or Dürnten (recorded 1387), or the " ...

Europe Plc they have reached agreement with The Caledonian Railway 828 Trust to produce

OO scale OO gauge or OO scale (also, 00 gauge and 00 scale) is the most popular standard gauge model railway standard in the United Kingdom, outside of which it is virtually unknown. OO gauge is one of several 4 mm-scale standards (4 mm to , or 1: ...

models of the 812 Class 0-6-0 locomotives.

References

Bibliography

External links

The Caley 828 Overhaul Website

Rail UK database 812 and 652 Classes
{{Caledonian Railway locomotives

812 __NOTOC__ Year 812 ( DCCCXII) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar, the 812th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 812th year of the 1st millennium, the 12th year of the 9th century, and the ...

0-6-0 locomotives C n2 locomotives Dübs locomotives Neilson locomotives Sharp Stewart locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1899 Standard-gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain