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 ...
918 Class were
4-6-0
A 4-6-0 steam locomotive, under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, has four leading wheels on two axles in a leading bogie and six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles with the abs ...
steam
tender locomotives
A tender is a special rail vehicle hauled by a steam locomotive containing its fuel (wood, coal, oil or torrefied biomass) and water. Steam locomotives consume large quantities of water compared to the quantity of fuel, so their tenders are ne ...
designed by
John F. McIntosh and built in 1906, at the Caledonian Railway's own
St. Rollox Works.
Overview
McIntosh developed six different classes of 4-6-0 for the Caledonian Railway:
[Essery, Bob & Jenkinson, David (1986), ''An Illustrated History of L.M.S. Locomotives, Volume Three: Absorbed Pre-Group Classes, Northern Division'', OPC, p.103]
* large
49 and 903 Classes for express passenger traffic, with 6' 6" driving wheels
* intermediate
908 and
179
Year 179 (Roman numerals, CLXXIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Veru (or, less frequently, year 932 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination ...
Classes for mixed traffic, with 5' 9" driving wheels
* small (5') wheeled
55 and 918 Classes for the Oban line and express goods traffic respectively
The 55 class had been introduced in 1902, specifically for use on the Caledonian's Oban line, and the 918 class was a development of the 55 class which was intended for express goods traffic on the main line. Whereas the 55s featured a relatively small boiler to keep axle weights low and very short tenders to keep within the length of the Oban shed turntable, the otherwise similar 918s had larger boilers and tenders.
Although built for freight service they were also used occasionally on passenger trains, and like all Caledonian 4-6-0s they were painted in the Railway's blue passenger livery.
LMS ownership
The locomotives passed into the ownership of 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 ...
upon its formation in 1923, and were repainted into the LMS's unlined black freight livery.
They were displaced by new LMS standard locomotives such as the
"Crab" 2-6-0s and were withdrawn for scrap between 1929 and 1930. Two of the boilers from the withdrawn 918s were transferred to 55 Class engines at that time, with the result that the receiving locomotives effectively became "quasi-918s" for their last few years.
Numbering and locomotive histories
source: BritishSteam
See also
*
Locomotives of the Caledonian Railway
A locomotive is a rail transport, rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, Push–pull train, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caledonian Railway 918 Class
918 Class
4-6-0 locomotives
2′C n2 locomotives
Railway locomotives introduced in 1906
Standard-gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain
Scrapped locomotives