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• The Caledonian Railway [top]
  Written by O. S. Nock
  First published in 1961 in Great Britain in hardback with dustjacket by Ian Allan
  Reprinted in 1964 in Great Britain in hardback with dustjacket by Ian Allan
  First published in 1973 in Great Britain, pp.190, ISBN 0711004080
  

Synopsis: The Caledonian was one of the greatest of the old railways in Great Britain before the grouping of 1923. It was a line of immense character, not only in its beautiful blue locomotives, its handsome stations and its many fast trains, but in the splendid solidarity of its management and the way in which vast capital sums were expended on huge schemes for the improvement of traffic handling and for the comfort and convenience of passengers. As one of its greatest general managers once said, the most exciting part of its history was before the line was built, in the fight to secure Parliamentary sanction for its main line through Annandale; but as Mr. Nock relates, there was ample excitement in later years, in the steamboat competition on the Clyde and in the races with the East Coast companies, first for the Edinburgh and later for the Aberdeen traffic

Mr. Nock tells of great engineering works, like the enlargement of Glasgow Central station and the building of Grangemouth Docks, or great men like Locke, Graham, Williamson, and Matheson, not to mention such giants of the locomotive world as Drummond and McIntosh, while a final chapter gives some hitherto unpublished details of dynamometer car tests carried out with certain Pickersgill locomotives after the grouping. The text is enhanced with 32 pages of photographs and several line illustrations

Contents:
Preface
1. Pre-Railway rivalries
2. Early days
3. Serious difficulties
4. The Great Amalgamations
5. The Influence of Alexander Allan
6. The Callander and Oban line
7. The Firth of Clyde
8. Dugald Drummond at St. Rollox
9. New lines and new stations
10. Twentieth-century splendour
11. The McIntosh locomotives
12. The war years and the aftermath
13. Locomotive performance
14. The Caledonian, the L.M.S. and the future
Index

Illustrations (all in black & white unless otherwise specified. Locomotives mentioned are steam unless otherwise indicated):
-Reproduction of poster showing 'The Promoters of the Caledonian Railway (courtesy B. T. C. Historical Relics
-Photograph showing Carstairs old station being demolished
-Photograph showing Moncrieff Tunnel, near Perth: single line working during re-lining (source: British Railways)
-Photograph of Dundee West
-Photograph of the picturesque Stirling station frontage (source: British Railways)
-Photograph of the interior of Aberdeen Joint: the old station
-Photograph of the reconstruction work of Aberdeen Joint under way in 1913, with the old roof being removed (source: BR)
-Photograph of one of the famous Conner 8' 2" singles, No. 83A as rebuilt by Dugald Drummond, but showing the Allan influence
-Photograph showing a 2-4-0 mixed traffic engine built in 1872 as No. 586, here seen as numbered in the duplicate list, No. 1586. The engine was renumbered five times in total: 586A to 1259 to 1586 to 127 and then 1586. She was unfortunately scrapped in 1910
-Photograph of Conner 7' 2-4-0 No. 117, as rebuilt with a Lambie type boiler in 1892 (source: Locomotive Publishing Co.)
-Photograph of freight steam locomotive 0-4-2 No. 1581, originally built by Neilsons in 1871, as it was running circa 1900 (source: The late W. J. Reynolds)
-Photograph of freight steam loco Drummond standard 0-6-0 No. 686, built 1884, by Neilsons
-Photograph of freight steam loco Pickersgill 0-6-0 No. 671 at Perth (source: R. D. Stephen)
-Photograph of Connel Ferry Viaduct (source: O. S. Nock)
-Photograph of Creran Viaduct, Ballachulish branch (source: O. S. Nock)
-Full page photograph of Rothesay, Isle of Bute, with the Caledonian Steam Packet Company's steamer Galatea berthed at the nearest end of the pier; and with North British and G. and S. W. steamers in the background (source: Annan, Glasgow)
-Photo of Eglinton Street Station - a striking view of the platforms (source: BR)
-Photo of Perth Joint Station - a view on the down side, looking South (source: BR)
-Photo of the interior of Wemyss Bay station, showing the John Menzies booth and the Refreshment Rooms sign
-Photo of the remarkable new station at Wemyss Bay with a wide open, brightly lit concourse
-Photograph of The Caledonian steamer at full speed
-Photograph of the steamer Ivanhoe at full speed
-Photograph of the turbine-driven boat Duchess of Argyll (source: Graham E. Langmuir)
-Photograph of the Duchess of Rothesay coming into dock at Brodick Pier, Isle of Arran. Goatfell in the background
-Photograph of Wemyss Bay: one of the five steamer berths (source: Graham E. Langmuir)
-Photograph of the famous Drummond 4-4-0 engine No. 79 Carbrook at Carlisle
-Photograph of the famous Dunalastair steam locomotive - pioneer of McIntosh's very famous series of 4-4-0 designs (source: F. Moore)
-Photograph of the famous 'Dunalastair II', No. 775 on the turntable at Perth, 1921 (source: R. D. Stephen)
-Full page photograph of St. Rollox Works' Erecting Shop as it was in 1890, with one of the Brittain Oban 2-4-2 tanks in the foreground
-Full page containing two photographs of great Scottish personalities - Caledonian railway engineer Dugald Drummond on the left; and Donald A. Matheson on the right, both being pencil portraits in The Baillie. (Courtesy of The Mitchell Library, Glasgow)
-Photograph of 2-6-0 No. 36 at Perth
-Photograph of 0-6-0 No. 32 on a Gourock train in Glasgow Central (source: R. D. Stephen)
-Photograph of the platforms at Glasgow Central station showing workers arriving into a smoky station concourse from suburban locations and the Clyde coast
-Photograph of a myriad of lines and signal gantries just outside of Glasgow Central. There are no trains in view, but the city skyline is evident
-Photograph of the new (at that time!) Clyde viaduct outside Glasgow Central station (just finished with the permanent way being laid on it
-Photograph of the gantry of electro-pneumatic signals adjacent to the new power signalbox in 1908 (source: British Railways)
-Photograph of the view looking northwards across the Clyde during the construction of the new viaduct, July, 1902. There are many steam cranes visible on the bank of the Clyde
-Photograph of the new brick arches being constructed to support the widened approach to Glasgow Central. Taken in July 1902 (Source: British Railways)
-Photograph of a large assembly of locomotives gathered in one road in Glasgow Central on 22nd May, 1904 including two 0-8-0 mineral tanks, Nos. 495 and 494; and an 0-8-0 tender engine. The aim of this was to test the new floor in the enlarged part of Glasgow Central station
-Photograph of Drummond 0-4-4 tank engine No. 1230 at Perth, 1921. This engine was built in 1886 as No. 230, and used for a time on the Methven branch
-Photograph of Lambie 4-4-0 tank No.7, built 1893 for the Glasgow Underground line. It was later a station pilot at Perth
-Photograph of McIntosh 0-4-4 tank No. 426 at Perth South shed
-Photograph of the Liverpool and Manchester-Glasgow express passing Kingmoor yards, Carlisle with 'Dunalastair II' Class 4-4-0 No. 766 heading the train
-Photograph of the Up West Coast express approaching Beattock Summit with 'Dunalastair IV' Class 4-4-0 No. 148 in charge
-Four photographs of famous railway personalities: J. F. McIntosh (Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent); Captain James Williamson (Marine Superintendent); Irvine Kempt (Superintendent of the Line) and Sir James Thompson (General Manager)
-Photograph of a group of fourteen 'Dunalastairs' in the sidings, of the first and second series, at Kingmoor shed after working a mammoth excursion party from St. Rollox works to Carlisle that required fourteen trains. The pioneer engine, No. 721 is in the centre foreground (source: Locomotive Publishing Co.)
-Photograph of one of the twelve-wheeled non-corridor coaches built for the Edinburgh and Glasgow service
-Photograph of four of the famous Grampian corridor stock. The leading coach is lettered: 'Corridor Express, Glasgow, Perth and Aberdeen.' (source: B.T.C. Historical Relics)
-Photograph of express passenger locomotive No.904: one of the lesser known members of the celebrated 'Cardean' Class (source: Locomotive Publishing Co.)
-Photograph of an express goods train leaving Carlisle headed by superheater 4-6-0 locomotive No. 180 (source: B.T.C. Historical Relics)
-Photograph of 10a.m. express Glasgow to Euston passenger train in Floriston Woods. The first coach in view is a Caledonian brake composite lettered 'Glasgow Central & Bristol via Severn Tunnel'. Sadly, this locomotive: No. 907, class 4-6-0, was destroyed after the tragic Quintinshill Railway Disaster (source: B.T.C. historical relics)
-Photograph of McIntosh design steam locomotive No.59 at Stirling (source: F. Moore)
-Photograph of a 'Pickersgill', No. 195 at Oban (Source: R. D. Stephen)
-Photograph of McIntosh Superheater 4-4-0 No. 132 at Perth
-Photograph of one of the ex-Highland 'River' Class 4-6-0s, known on the Caledonian as the 'Hielan'mon'
-Photograph of one of the '908' Class mixed traffic 4-6-0s, No. 917, fitted with side window cab
-Photograph of an ex-R.O.D. 2-8-0 of the Great Central design in Caledonian service at Aberdeen in 1920, but with 'C.R.' on the characteristic G.C.R. tender (source: R. D. Stephen)
-Photograph of 4-4-0 No. 81 built by Armstrong Whitworth (source: R. D. Stephen)
-Photograph of two-cylinder 4-6-0 No. 65 (source: R. D. Stephen)
-Photograph of three-cylinder 4-6-0 No. 959 (source: R. D. Stephen)
-Photograph of the Euston-Perth Express leaving Carlisle in the charge of 4-4-0 engines No. 928 (Pickersgill) and 890 ('Dunalastair III' Class) (source: B. T. C. Historical Relics)
-Photograph of the first Pickersgill three-cylinder 4-6-0 No. 956 on test at Perth in 1921, fitted with indicator shelves. The engine on the right is the Highland 4-6-0 Brodie Castle (Source: R. D. Stephen)