Locomotives of the North British Railway

The North British Railway was opened in 1846 as the line from Edinburgh to Berwick-upon-Tweed, and its workshops were initially situated in St.Margarets, Edinburgh. Gradually other railways were acquired, including in 1865 the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, whose works at Cowlairs, Glasgow were better than that at St.Margarets, which were reduced to repairs only and all production moved to Cowlairs.

As is customary, engine classes are organized according to the man who was locomotive superintendent when the class was introduced, and to whom the design is often attributed. The NBR was rather unfortunate in its choice of locomotive superintendents, the first five of whom were sacked or forced to resign either for alleged incompetence or financial scandals.

The NBR's locomotive classification system (introduced in 1913) is not very helpful because the same letter has been applied to several different classes. The North British Railway Study Group has developed its own classification system and a list can be found here.

These are not complete lists, engines acquired second-hand and from absorbed companies are not included.

Robert Thornton (1846–51)

Numbers	W.A.	No. Built	Builder	Date	Notes
1–16	0-4-2	16	R & W Hawthorn	1846	One rebuilt in 1857 as 2-2-2
17–26	0-4-2	10	R & W Hawthorn	1846	One rebuilt in 1859 as 2-2-2, 2 in 1867-8 as 0-6-0T
27–32	0-6-0	6	R & W Hawthorn	1846
33–38	2-2-2	6	R & W Hawthorn	1847	Two rebuilt 1868–69 as 2-4-0
39–46	2-4-0	8	R & W Hawthorn	1847	Two rebuilt 1868-70 as 0-6-0
47–54	0-6-0	8	R & W Hawthorn	1848
55	4-2-0	1	E. B. Wilson & Co.	1849	Crampton locomotive. Later rebuilt as 2-2-2
57	2-2-2	1	R & W Hawthorn	1849
56, 58–63	2-4-0	7	R & W Hawthorn	1851
64–71	0-6-0	8	R & W Hawthorn	1850

William Smith (1851–54)

No new locomotives were built during his term of office

Edmund George Petrie (1854)

No new locomotives were built during his term of office

William Hurst (1855–66)

Hurst came from the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, to which he returned after being sacked from the NBR.

There were many variations within the classes listed here, both as built and after subsequent rebuilding.

1st built	W.A.	No. Built	Builder	Date	Notes
72	0-4-2	4	W. Fairbairn	1855	Originally intended for Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway
90	2-4-0	24	Neilson (18) Dübs (6)	1861–68
109	0-4-0	3	NBR St.Margarets	1865–66
76	0-6-0	4	NBR St.Margarets	1860–61
80	0-6-0	58	Hawthorn of Leith (6) R. Stephenson (16) Dübs & Co. (36)	1861–67
31	2-2-2WT	2	NBR St.Margarets	1856	1877 sold to Wigtownshire Railway
20	0-4-2WT	14	NBR St.Margarets	1857–64
282	0-6-0ST	3	Dübs	1866–67

Thomas Wheatley (1867–74)

1st built	1913 Class	W.A.	No. Built	Builder	Date	LNER Class	Notes
141	—	2-4-0	2	NBR Cowlairs	1869	—
418	P	2-4-0	8	NBR Cowlairs	1873	E7
40	—	2-4-0	2	NBR Cowlairs	1873	—
224	—	4-4-0	2	NBR Cowlairs	1871	—
420	—	4-4-0	4	NBR Cowlairs	1873	—
17	—	0-6-0	1	NBR St.Margarets	1868	—	Built from parts of earlier locos
251	E	0-6-0	38	NBR Cowlairs	1867–74	J84	20 rebuilt as saddle-tanks from 1889-94
396	E	0-6-0	26	Neilson & Co. (12), Dübs & Co. (14)	1867–69	J31
56	—	0-6-0	8	NBR St.Margarets	1868–69	—	Built from parts of earlier locos
115	E	0-6-0	62	NBR Cowlairs	1869–75	J31
226	E	0-6-0ST	2	NBR Cowlairs	1870	J86
220	—	0-6-0ST	1	NBR Cowlairs	1870	—
130	E	0-6-0ST	9	NBR Cowlairs	1870–73	J85
229	E	0-6-0ST	15	NBR Cowlairs	1871–73	J81
32	—	0-6-0ST	6	NBR Cowlairs	1874	—
394	—	0-4-0	2	Neilson & Co.	1867	—	Second hand
357	—	0-4-0	2	NBR Cowlairs	1868	Y10
18	—	0-4-0ST	2	NBR Cowlairs	1872	—

Dugald Drummond (1874–82)

1st built	1913 Class	W.A.	No. Built	Builder	Date	LNER Class	Notes
474	—	2-2-2	2	Neilson	1876	—
476	M	4-4-0	12	Neilson (8) NBR Cowlairs (4)	1877–79	D27/D28
494	P	4-4-0T	3	Neilson	1879	D50
72	R	4-4-0T	30	NBR Cowlairs	1880–84	D51
157	P	0-4-2T	6	NBR Cowlairs	1877	G8	All rebuilt as 0-4-4T in 1881
100	C	0-6-0	32	NBR Cowlairs (12) Neilson (20)	1876–77	J32
34	D	0-6-0	13	NBR Cowlairs	1879	J34
497	D	0-6-0	88	NBR Cowlairs (83) Dübs (5)	1879–83	J34
165	R	0-6-0T	25	NBR Cowlairs	1875–78	J82
546	G	0-4-0T	2	Neilson	1882	Y9

Matthew Holmes (1882–1903)

1st built	1913 Class	W.A.	No. Built	Builder	Date	LNER Class	Notes
574	M	4-4-0	6	NBR Cowlairs	1884	D31
633	M	4-4-0	24	NBR Cowlairs	1890–95	D31
729	M	4-4-0	18	NBR Cowlairs	1898–99	D31
592	N	4-4-0	12	NBR Cowlairs	1886–87	D25
693	N	4-4-0	24	NBR Cowlairs	1894–96	D35	One superheated in 1919, became NBR L class / LNER Class D36
317	K	4-4-0	12	NBR Cowlairs	1903	D26
586	P	0-4-4T	12	NBR Cowlairs	1886–88	G7
566	D	0-6-0	36	NBR Cowlairs	1883–87	J33
604	C	0-6-0	168	Neilson (15), Sharp Stewart (15), NBR Cowlairs (138)	1888–1900	J36
795	D	0-6-0T	40	Neilson (20), Sharp Stewart (20)	1900–01	J83
32	G	0-4-0ST	36	NBR Cowlairs	1887–99	Y9	same as Drummond 546 class

William Paton Reid (1903–19)

NBL (the North British Locomotive Company) was a private locomotive manufacturer, distinct from the North British Railway.

1st built	1913 Class	W.A.	No. Built	Builder	Date	LNER Class	Notes
868	I	4-4-2	20	NBL (14) R. Stephenson (6)	1906–11	C10	Superheaters added 1915–25, to become NBR H class / LNER Class C11
1	M	4-4-2T	30	Yorkshire Engine Co.	1911–13	C15
438	L	4-4-2T	21	NBL	1915–21	C16	Superheated
895	J	4-4-0	16	NBL (6) NBR Cowlairs (10)	1909–11	D29	Superheaters added 1925–35
400	J	4-4-0	27	NBR Cowlairs	1912–20	D30	Superheated.
882	K	4-4-0	12	NBR Cowlairs	1906–07	D32	Superheaters added 1923–26
331	K	4-4-0	12	NBR Cowlairs	1909–10	D33	“Scott” class. Superheaters added 1925–36
149	K	4-4-0	32	NBR Cowlairs	1913–20	D34	“Glens”. Superheated.
239	M	0-4-4T	12	NBL	1909	G9
848	B	0-6-0	76	NBL (40) NBR Cowlairs (36)	1906–13	J35
8	S	0-6-0	104	NBR Cowlairs (35) NBL (69)	1914–21	J37	Superheated
836	F	0-6-0T	35	NBR Cowlairs	1905–19	J88
858	A	0-6-2T	6	NBL	1909–20	N14
7	A	0-6-2T	69	NBL	1910–24	N15	+30 built by LNER

Walter Chalmers (1919–22)

1st built	1913 Class	W.A.	No. Built	Builder	Date	LNER Class	Notes
509	H	4-4-2	2	NBL	1921	C11	Superheated, same as rebuilt "868" class

External links

• Locomotives of the LNER