Image courtesy of the R.W. Lynn Collection
Introduced from 1913, the ‘Glens’ were the final development of similar locomotives designed by William Reid for the North British Railway from 1905. Built at their works in Cowlairs, Springburn, they were designed to be suited to mixed traffic duties, being as much at home on passenger or freight duties on all parts of the NBR network.
All thirty-two locomotives were named after Scottish Glens, mainly located along the West Highland route to Fort William and Mallaig, with which they became associated with for most of their lives. The challenging conditions of this particular route provided little issue for the ‘Glen’ class which took it in their stride until replacement by more modern locomotives in the late 1940s and 1950s.
Away from the West Highland, the locomotives served destinations such as Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and the parts of the Waverley route, being based at either Eastfield, St. Margarets or Thornton sheds. Their reliability and suitability to these workings meant that only five of the class had been withdrawn by 1950. With modernisation spreading across Scotland’s railway network, removal from service restarted in 1958 and took three years to complete.
No.62469 ‘Glen Douglas’ enjoyed a reprieve, being restored to service in its original NBR livery in 1959. Running alongside three other Scottish pre-grouping locomotives similarly treated (including the famous ‘Caledonian Single’), the reborn No.256 worked a series of enthusiast railtours across Scotland until 1966, and now survives as the sole NBR K Class on display in the Riverside Museum in Glasgow.
