BYE BYE BEATTOCK BANKER

Time is short for ex-Caledonian Railway ‘944’ 4-6-2T No. 15356. Introduced exactly 30 years before this picture was taken on April 7 1947, the ‘944s’ were the only class of large passenger tanks operated by the ‘Caley’. Displaced by the Fowler and Fairburn 2-6-4Ts, by the time of nationalisation, the ten surviving examples were all allocated to Beattock shed for banking duties. The class was withdrawn between 1946 and 1953; No. 15356 would last until June 1950 before it was scrapped.