Locomotives of the Great North of Scotland Railway
[2] The goods locomotives had been ordered as 0-6-0 and the specification changed during manufacture,[3] and they were all fitted with Clark's patent smoke preventing system that improved fuel economy.
[4] Painted green with black borders, and red buffer beams,[5] there was no protection for the driver or fireman and braking was by wooden blocks on the four wheels of the tender.
[3] The railway opened with only five locomotives, and within days one had been seriously damaged in a collision at Kittybrewster and a second had a mechanical fault.
[7] John Folds Ruthven replaced Clark in 1855 and an order was placed with Beyer, Peacock & Co. for two 0-4-0 tank engines to bank trains on the line to Waterloo near Aberdeen harbour.
[14] The next twelve locomotives had rounded splashers over the trailing driving wheels, which meant shape of the cab was different, but retained the brass dome on the firebox, copper capped chimney and had brass bands joining the firebox and boiler.
The Banffshire had four locomotives, two 0-4-2 tanks, named "Banff" and "Portsoy", built by Hawthorns of Leith for the line's opening 1859.
The other two locomotives were 0-4-2 tender engines, one named "Keith" had been bought secondhand from the Scottish Central Railway, having been built in 1848 by the Vulcan Foundry in Warrington, and a similar tender engine built by Hawthorns.
[16] The Morayshire Railway had started services in 1852 with two 2-2-0 engines designed by James Samuel and built by Neilsons.
Samuel had previously designed steam railcars, two of which had been built by William Bridges Adams for the Eastern Counties Railway.
3, a tender locomotive, was delivered in 1854 from Dodds & Son of Rotherham, but this had mechanical defects and was never satisfactory.
8, which was given a larger six-wheeled tender to allow it to haul the Royal Trains from Aberdeen to Ballater without stopping.
[18] James Manson became Locomotive superintendent in 1883, moving from the Glasgow & South Western Railway.
He introduced a more contemporary design of locomotive, with inside cylinders and doors on the side of cabs, and without brass domes or copper chimneys.
Although there was only space for four locos in the cramped repair shops the board expected to save £300 to £400 by building the locomotives themselves.
With boilers with a working pressure of 165 pounds per square inch (1,140 kPa), they were the first GNSR locomotives not to have Clark's patent smoke prevention apparatus.
Classified as Class S and known for rapid acceleration and sustained high speed, these were the blueprint for the future GNSR tender locomotives.
[36] A further order for ten was placed in 1899, but train mileage had been reduced and five were sold to the South Eastern & Chatham Railway.
The cars were introduced on the Lossiemouth branch and the St Combs Light Railway, but there was considerable vibration when in motion that was uncomfortable for the passengers and caused problems for the steam engine.
Before they were withdrawn in 1909/10, one was tried on Deeside suburban services, but had insufficient accommodation and was unable to maintain the schedule.
Heywood changed the livery during the war, and the traditional green had been replaced by black, lined with yellow and red.
[46] On 1 January 1923 the Great North of Scotland became a part of the Scottish division of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER),[47] who received a total of 122 locomotives, 100 4-4-0 tender locomotives and 22 tank engines, all capable of being used on either passenger or goods trains.
It was used on special trains before becoming a static exhibit at the Glasgow Transport Museum in 1965,[69] and is currently on loan to Scottish Railway Preservation Society[70] at Bo'ness.
