Highland Railway 2-2-2, 1874. According to O.S.Nock, this is a Scottish variant of Allan's "Crewe" type. It was first built in 1863. [Compare this locomotive to both the London & North West Railway's 2-2-2, which places the cylinders inside the drive wheels, and to an example in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, which, like this one, resermbles American engines in placing the cylinders outside the driving wheels.]
"The success of the Allan Crewe-type locomotives, in their mechanical soundness and simplicity, tended to lead to the perpetuation of the design beyond the point where it was really suitable. Of this there was no more striking case than that of the Highland Railway. Allan was consultant to the Inverness and Nairn Railway; but while his little 2-2-2s were ideal for the level run along the shores of the Moray Firth they were certainly not suitable for the line across the Grampians which attained an altitude of 1484 ft. above sea level in the Pass of Drumochter. Nevertheless no fewer than 54 locomotives of the Allan 6-wheeled type -- 24 of the 2-2-2 type, and 50 of the 2-4-0 -- were supplied to the Highland Railway between 1855 and 1871. At first they were supplied virtually identical in appearance to the Crewe engines, with their rather gaunt outline. But they were rendered much neater and prettier in appearance in Stroudley's day, and painted in the famous 'yellow' livery that he took to the Brighton Railway. Our picture shows engine No. 32 of the Highland, originally supplied in October 1863, but as running from 1874 onwards. She was originally named Sutherland, but took the name Cluny in 1874, exchanging names with No. 55, which was converted from a 2-2-2 to a 2-4-0 at that time. As shown, Cluny has the David Jones livery, and chimney with louvres. The cab dates from Stroudley's time. Originally these engines, like their counterparts on the L.N.W.R., had no cabs." [Nock, pp.120-21]
Bibliography
Nock, O. S. The Pocket Encylopaedia of British Steam Locomotives. Illustrations by Clifford and Wendy Meadway. Poole: Blandford Press, 1964.
Last modified 10 September 2004