The Caledonian Railway 124 — a 4-4-0 express passenger engine. “We might justly say the most famous engine in the kingdom is C.R. No. 123, which twice every day during the race to Edinburgh in August, 1888, ran the "West Coast Flyer," and never lost a minute during the month.” Designer: Mr. Drummond. Source: Pattinson, British Railways (1893), facing 123.
Accompanying text
The Caledonian train services are good, and its steep gradients afford probably more scope for the highest class locomotive work. . . .Probably on no other line, except perhaps the Preston to Carlisle section of its ally, the London and North-western, do speed, gradients, and heavy loads combine to offer a harder task to the locomotive than on the Caledonian Railway. Before the late locomotive superintendent, Mr. Drummond, assumed the reins of management, the company suffered from a multiplicity of types, many of them good, but not good enough for the arduous tasks they had to perform. The labours required have since become still more herculean, but Mr. Drummond has proved fully equal to all demands. His well-known bogie engines have achieved a wide reputation, and even the most thorough-going adherents of the Midland and Great Northern types have at last begun timidly to compare the performances of their favourites with the engines of the Scotch company. Particukrly famous we might justly say the most famous engine in the kingdom is C.R. No. 123, which twice every day during the race to Edinburgh in August, 1888, ran the "West Coast Flyer," and never lost a minute during the month. [133]
Formatting and text by George P. Landow. You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Internet Archive and Stanford University and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliographt
Pattinson, J. Peabody. British Railways: Their Passenger Service, Rolling Stock, Locomotives, Gradients, and Express Speeds. London: Cassell, 1893. Internet Archive version of a copy in the Stanford University library. Web. 26 January 2013.
Last modified 28 January 2013