Locomotives of the Glasgow and South Western Railway

The locomotives of the Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR). The G&SWR had its headquarters in Glasgow with its main locomotive works in Kilmarnock.

Engines inherited from constituent companies

The G&SWR was formed in 1850 from a merger of the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway (GPK&AR) and the Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway (GD&CR). A number of other companies were absorbed by the G&SWR or its predecessors, including the Ardrossan Railway, the Paisley and Renfrew Railway and the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway.

Engines built by the Glasgow and South Western Railway

One notable feature of the G&SWR’s locomotive stock was its aversion to tank engines. Until very late on in the company’s history these were used only when circumstances absolutely demanded it.

Patrick Stirling (1853-1866)

See Patrick Stirling

Wheel Arrangement	Class	Date	Builder	No. built	Notes
2-2-2	95	1855	Neilson	4
	2	1857-60	G&SWR Kilmarnock	13
	40	1860-4	G&SWR Kilmarnock	10
	45	1865-8	G&SWR Kilmarnock	11
0-2-2-0	99	1855	R & W Hawthorn	4
2-4-0	94	1854/5	Neilson	1
	109	1858	Beyer-Peacock	1
0-4-2	105	1856	R & W Hawthorn	4
	9	1857	Neilson	7
	34	1858-9	R & W Hawthorn	10
	23	1860-2	Sharp Stewart	20	8 rebuilt as tanks during 1881-5.
	131	1864	R & W Hawthorn	10
	141	1866	Neilson	10	4 rebuilt as tanks during 1886-7.
0-4-0	52	1864-6	G&SWR Kilmarnock	6
0-6-0	103	1855	R & W Hawthorn	2
	46	1862-3	G&SWR Kilmarnock	6
	58	1866-7	G&SWR Kilmarnock	6
		1867-9	Neilson	20

James Stirling (1866-1878)

See James Stirling

Wheel Arrangement	Class	Date	Builder	No. built	1919 nos.	LMS power classification	LMS nos.	Notes
2-2-2WT	159	1867	Neilson	1
2-4-0	8	1868-70	G&SWR Kilmarnock	15
	75	1870-1	G&SWR Kilmarnock	10	726-7	1P	14000
0-4-2	187	1870-1	Neilson	20				8 rebuilt as tanks during 1888-9.
	208	1873	Dübs	10	651-5	U	17023-6
	221	1874-8	Neilson	50	635-50	U	17035-45
		1876	Dübs	10
4-4-0	6	1873-7	G&SWR Kilmarnock	22
0-4-0	65	1871-4	G&SWR Kilmarnock	22	732-3
0-4-0ST	157	1867-70	A.Barclay	5
	218	1873	Allen Andrews	2
	220	1873	A.Barclay	1				Second Hand, purchased 1874 from Glamorgan Coal Co.
	113	1875-6	G&SWR Kilmarnock	6
0-6-0	13	1877-8	G&SWR Kilmarnock	12	563-584 with gaps	1F	17103-11

Hugh Smellie (1878-1890)

See Hugh Smellie

Wheel Arrangement	Class	Date	Builder	No. built	1919 nos.	LMS power classification	LMS nos.	Notes
2-4-0	157	1879-81	G&SWR Kilmarnock	12	720-5	1P	14001-2
4-4-0	119	1882-5	G&SWR Kilmarnock	24	467-8, 700-719	1P	14116-37	14 rebuilt with "X3" boilers in 1921-2 to become class 2P
	153	1886-9	G&SWR Kilmarnock	20	448-466	1P	14138-56
0-4-4T	1	1879-81	G&SWR Kilmarnock	4	728-31	1P	15241-4
0-4-0T	291	1883	A.Barclay	1	734	U	16042	Second hand, purchased 1885, Works shunter
0-4-0ST	218	1881	Andrews, Barr & Co	2	658-9	U	16040-1
0-6-0	224	1881-92	G&SWR Kilmarnock	44	135-9, 560-616 with gaps	1F	17112-64	10 rebuilt with "X3" boilers in 1923-5 to become class 2F
		1883	Neilson	10
		1889	Dübs	10

James Manson (1890-1911)

See James Manson

Wheel Arrangement	Class	Date	Builder	No. built	1919 nos.	LMS power classification	LMS nos.	Notes
4-4-0	8	1892-1904	G&SWR Kilmarnock	57	377, 396-447	1P	14157-202, 14244-5, 14249-53	17 rebuilt with "X1" boilers in 1920-1 to become class 2P
	336	1895-9	Dübs	25	350-74	2P	14203-27
	194	1899-1901	G&SWR Kilmarnock	16	469-484	1P	14228-43
	240	1904-11	G&SWR Kilmarnock	17	375, 378-93	2P	14246-8, 14254-67
	18	1907-12	G&SWR Kilmarnock	15	337-49, 376, 395	2P	14268-9, 14366-78
	11	1897	G&SWR Kilmarnock	1	394	3P	14509	first 4-cylinder simple locomotive in the British Isles. Rebuilt by Drummond and again by Whitelegg in 1922, when named "Lord Glenarthur"
4-6-0	381	1903	North British	10	495-504	3P	14656-65
		1910-1	G&SWR Kilmarnock	7	505-11		14666-72
	128	1911	North British	2	512-3	3P	14673-4
0-4-4T	326	1893	Neilson	10	520-529	1P	15245-54
	266	1906	G&SWR Kilmarnock	6	305-10	U	16080-5
0-4-0T	272	1907-9	G&SWR Kilmarnock	6	316-21	U	16044-9
0-6-0T	14	1896-1914	G&SWR Kilmarnock	15	275-89	1F	16103-17
0-4-2	113	1900-1	G&SWR Kilmarnock	7	268-74	1F	17028-34
	224	1901-4	G&SWR Kilmarnock	30	238-267	1F	17046-75
0-6-0	306	1892-3	Dübs	20	178-197	1F	17165-84	3 rebuilt with "X3" boilers in 1925 to become class 2F
	160	1897-9	G&SWR Kilmarnock	18	160-177	1F	17185-202	4 rebuilt with "X3" boilers in 1925-6 to become class 2F
	281	1911-2	G&SWR Kilmarnock	10	140-9	2F	17203-12
	361	1900	Neilson	20	115-34	2F	17474-93	21 rebuilt with "X2" boilers in 1920-4 to become class 3F
		1907-12	North British	12	103-114		17494-505
		1910	G&SWR Kilmarnock	2	101-2		17506-7
	17	1910	North British	15	86-100	2F	17508-22	1 rebuilt with "X2" boiler in 1920 to become class 3F

Peter Drummond (1911-1918)

See Peter Drummond

Wheel Arrangement	Class	Date	Builder	No. built	1919 nos.	LMS power classification	LMS nos.	Notes
4-4-0	131	1913	North British	6	331-336	3P	14510-5
	137	1915	G&SWR Kilmarnock	6	325-330	3P	14516-21
0-6-0T	5	1917	North British	3	322-324	2F	16377-9
0-6-2T	45	1915-17	North British	18	11-28	3F	16410-27 (later 16910-27)
0-6-0	279	1913	North British	15	71-85	4F	17750-64
2-6-0	403	1915	North British	11	51-61	4F	17820-30	"Austrian Goods"

R. H. Whitelegg (1918-1922)

See Robert Harben Whitelegg

Wheel Arrangement	Class	Date	Builder	No. built	G&SWR nos.	LMS power classification	LMS nos.	Notes
4-4-0	485	1921	G&SWR Kilmarnock	1	485	2P	14270	Same as rebuilds of Manson's "8" class
4-6-4T	540	1922	North British	6	540-545	5P	15400-5
0-4-0ST	735	1904	Peckett	1	735	U	16043	Acquired secondhand from Ayr Harbour in 1919
0-6-2T	1	1919	North British	10	1-10	3F	16400-9 (later 16900-9)	Similar to Drummond "45" class.
0-6-0	150	1921	G&SWR Kilmarnock	2	150-1	3F	17523-4	Same as rebuilds of Manson's "361" class

Numbering and classification

The very first engines of the GPK&AR were named but soon after received numbers. As the GD&CR was always intended to merge with the former its engines were allocated numbers following on from the GPK&AR sequence.

From 1851 new engines were given the numbers of older engines that had been withdrawn from service. Eventually new engines were being allocated the numbers of old engines that were intended for withdrawal but which were still running and so two engines would be running with the same number. In 1878 Hugh Smellie introduced an ‘R’ list to cater for older engines whose number had been allocated to a newer one. Later on Manson used an ‘A’ list system, where the older engine had an ‘A’ added to its number. By 1919 the system was so complicated that there was a complete renumbering of all engines.

Class numbers were the number of the first engine built in the class. Given the policy on numbering this meant that classes with lower numbers could frequently be newer than higher numbered classes.

See also LMS locomotive numbering and classification

Liveries

Various shades of green provided the basic colour of the locomotives, with lining in black and white or black and yellow.

Locomotives under LMS ownership

The G&SWR locomotive stock fell foul of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway policy of standardisation following the grouping. Within ten years nearly 80% had been withdrawn from service and only a single 1 Class 0-6-2T engine remained by nationalisation in 1948.

Preservation

Glasgow and South Western Railway No 9 at Glasgow transport museum

Only one G&SWR locomotive has survived:

• Glasgow and South Western Railway 5 Class 0-6-0T no. 9. In 1919 this became class 322, no. 324 and in the LMS was no. 16379.

Sold by the LMS in 1934 to a colliery in Denbighshire, and subsequently passing into National Coal Board ownership, it was from that location that it was acquired for preservation.[1] It is now on display in the Glasgow Museum of Transport.

Notes

1. Williams (1974)

Sources

• Highet, Campbell (1965) The Glasgow & South-Western Railway, Lingfield: Oakwood Press
• Smith, David L. (1976) Locomotives of the Glasgow and South Western Railway, Newton Abbot: David & Charles
• Williams, Peter (1974). Britain's Railway Museums. Shepperton: Ian Allan Ltd. 0 7110 0565 6.
• Baxter, Bertram (1984) British Locomotive Catalogue 1825-1923 Volume 4 Scottish and remaining English Companies in the LMS Group, Ashbourne: Moorland Publishing

External links

• The Glasgow & South Western Railway Association