Caledonian Railway 60 Class

The Caledonian Railway 60 Class were 4-6-0 passenger engines designed by William Pickersgill and introduced in 1916. Six locomotives were constructed by the Caledonian Railway at its St. Rollox works between 1916 and 1917, all of which transitioned to LMS (London, Midland and Scottish Railway) ownership in 1923. An additional twenty locomotives, featuring slight design modifications, were produced under the direction of George Hughes for the LMS between 1925 and 1926.

While the 60 Class locomotives were robust and free-steaming, they were also unsophisticated and exhibited lethargic performance given their size. Although initially classified as passenger locomotives by the LMS, they were frequently deployed on goods trains later in their service life. This shift in usage earned them the nickname Greybacks, likely referencing their long, grimy boilers. Alternatively, the nickname may have been an insult coined by former Glasgow and South Western Railway enginemen, as "greyback" was an old term for a louse.

Withdrawals from service began in 1944, but twenty-three locomotives remained operational when British Railways was formed in 1948. The final locomotives were retired in 1953, and none of the class were preserved, with all locomotives ultimately scrapped.

Numbering and locomotive histories

sources Longworth (2005) and RailUK

Technical details

Pickersgill Caledonian Railway design

See box, top right.

Hughes LMS development of Pickersgill design

The locomotives built by the LMS had slightly larger cylinders and weighed slightly less than the original CR locomotives. Details were as for the CR locomotives except:

• Introduced: 1925
• Boiler Pressure: 180 psi (1,200 kPa)
• Two cylinders: 20.5 in × 26 in (521 mm × 660 mm)
• Loco Weight: 74.75 long tons (75.95 t)
• Tender Weight: 41.5 long tons (42.2 t)
• Starting tractive effort: 22,900 lbf (102 kN)

• Baxter, Bertram (1984). Baxter, David (ed.). British Locomotive Catalogue 1825–1923. Vol. 4: Scottish and remaining English Companies in the LMS Group. Ashbourne, Derbyshire: Moorland Publishing Company. p. 103.