The Highland Railway Loch class locomotives were large 4-4-0s normally used north of Inverness. They were introduced in 1896, to the design of David Jones. Fifteen were built by

Dübs and Company Dübs & Co. was a locomotive manufacturer in Glasgow, Scotland, founded by Henry Dübs in 1863 and based at the Queens Park Works in Polmadie. In 1903 it amalgamated with two other Glasgow locomotive manufacturers to create the North British ...

in Glasgow, all going into traffic between July and September 1896. Three more were built in 1917 by Dübs' successor, the North British Locomotive Company (NBL).

Design

They had the typical Jones appearance with outside cylinders, domed cab roof, louvred chimney, but, as with the Jones Goods class 4-6-0, the Allan style front framing was dispensed with. Allan valve gear was still used.

Numbering

;Built by Dübs in 1896 ;Built by NBL in 1917 These were needed primarily for the increased traffic on the Kyle line where they were the heaviest locomotives permitted. This period was when the initial traffic of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

effort in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

was flowing, and much was brought to the west coast of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

in an effort to reduce the effect of the

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...

menace. The trains ran from Kyle to

Invergordon Invergordon (; gd, Inbhir Ghòrdain or ) is a town and port in Easter Ross, in Ross and Cromarty, Highland, Scotland. It lies in the parish of Rosskeen. History The town built up around the harbour which was established in 1828. The area beca ...

so it was a wholly HR traffic.

Transfer to LMS

They passed to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) in 1923. The LMS classified them '2P'. Withdrawal occurred from 1930 onwards.

Transfer to BR

Only two survived into British Railways (BR) ownership in 1948. Neither received their allocated BR number before being withdrawn in 1948 ('Loch Insh') and 1950 ('Loch Tay').

References

* * {{Highland Railway locomotives Loch Class 4-4-0 locomotives Dübs locomotives NBL locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1896 Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Passenger locomotives