Dugald Drummond joined the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) in 1895 as Locomotive Engineer, succeeding William Adams (see my Talking Stock # 14 post here) having previously worked for the North British Railway, London Brighton & South Coast Railway and the Caledonian Railway. His title changed to Chief Mechanical Engineer in January 1905 and he remained in this position with the LSWR until his death on 8 November 1912 aged 72.
During his time with the LSWR he was responsible for the introduction of 18 locomotive types including from the diminutive C14 class, 700’s, M7’s, a number of 4-4-0 classes including of course the renown T9 ‘Greyhounds’ class a small number of 4-6-0’s classes such as the T14’s and also a couple of railcars too. Over ten of these classes were long lived and survived well into British Railways ownership with the last of the D15 class not being withdrawn until 1965.
This post highlights some of the examples of Dougal Drummond’s 4-4-0’s that I have models of (some of his other classes will no doubt be the subject of future posts) and can sometimes be seen running on Fisherton Sarum. Many of these these examples have been kit built.
T9 Class no. 119 from the first batch built was used by both the LSWR, SR and BR(S) for royal train duties and post 1946 was the only member of the class to be painted in lined malachite green. This is a Hornby model.
Although not his first 4-4-0 design for the LSWR, that was the C8 class, his second is probably his most well known and much loved being the T9 class known as ‘greyhounds’. First introduced in 1899 the 66 strong class had a 10′ wheel base and a 7’4″ firebox (both 1ft longer than the C8) with 6’7″ driving wheels. once superheated during the 1920’s their performance was legendary.
T9 Class No. 729 from the second batch coupled to a 3500 gallon 6 wheel tender. Again this is a Hornby model but repainted.
The first twenty engines were built at Nine Elms between June 1899 and February 1900. At the same time thirty engines were built by Dubs & Co A further fifteen engines were built at Nine Elms between December 1900 and October 1901.
T9 Class no. 312 from the final batch, note the wider cab and splashers and no secondary splasher for the coupling rods. Built from a Wills white metal kit (although Hornby have also produced the wide cab variant.
This batch were identifiable by having wider cabs and splashers which enclosed the throw of the coupling rods unlike the earlier batches with narrow cabs and separate additional smaller splashers for the rods.
Whilst most people associate this class with the Drummond 4000 gallon inside bearing ‘watercart’ tenders a number were paired to 6 wheel 3500 gallon tenders and these weere swapped about during the lifetime of the class.
K10 Class No. 389 ‘Small Hopper’ with 3500 gallon 6 wheel tender. Built from a Sharp etched brass kit
In 1901/2 Drummond introduced the K10 class known as “Small Hoppers”, a class of 40 which shared the same cylinders, boiler and firebox as the earlier C8 class but with 5’7″ driving wheels for mixed traffic duties. Like the C8 class their steaming ability was not great so they generally were kept on secondary routes.
L11 Class No. 405 ‘ Large Hopper’ with a 4000 gallon inside frame ‘watercart’ bogie tender. Built from a Loddon Models etched brass kit
1903 saw the introduction of the ‘Large Hoppers’ officially the L11 class again of 40 locomotives, these were in effect the slightly larger brother of the K10 class, still with 5’7″ driving wheels but with the same longer wheel base and firebox of the T9 class. Like the K10 they were never superheated.
1903 also saw the introduction of the 10 locos of the S11 class essentially an adaptation of the T9, also superheated but with smaller 6′ drivers and larger 4’9″ boiler. This class was followed by the L12 class of 20 locos in 1904 that was a further adaption of S11 class with the larger boiler but higher pitched on the essentially same chassis as the T9. I am yet to add these classes to my fleet.
D15 Class No. 466. Built from a BEC white metal kit.
The final 10 Drummond 4-4-0’s introduced were the D15 class which was a verson of the L12 class but with a longer boiler and firebox, with an overall 18″ longer wheelbase than the T9.
D15 Class No. 467 also from a BEC kit and awaiting weathering
The D15s performed exceptionally well and were put to work on the Bournemouth line run where, apparently, many drivers preferred them to the less successful Drummond 4-6-0’s designs. They latterly saw extensive use on the Portsmouth line.
