No 6838, which arrived from Kittybrewster sometime after 5 October 1926 and was ultimately condemned as a Keith engine on 8 July 1933.
The ‘K2’ series of 2-6-0s were ‘local’ to the Great North lines from September/October 1952 but it was not until 7 July 1954 that
Keith received an allocation of these Gresley designed ex-Great Northern Railway locomotives – Nos 61779, 61782, 61792 and 61794. Table Six details the arrivals and departures of the Keith fleet, seven in all, with all condemned at Keith. Among these were two of the Scottish ‘namers’, Nos 61782 Loch Eil and 61783 Loch Sheil.
The final ex-LNER tank engines to be mentioned are two Reid ‘N15’ 0-6-2Ts, a North British Railway design but the older of the pair, No 69201, was from a 1922 order to Robert Stephenson & Co Ltd and wasn’t delivered until March 1923, as LNER No 523, while No 69224 was one of the ‘N15/1s’ constructed at Cowlairs in 1923/24, in fact the very last of the class. The latter was initially No 9227 but became No 9224 under Edward Thompson in 1946 (surely too close between the numbers to have avoided confusion). No 69201 arrived from Ferryhill shed on 16 December 1957 but was condemned on 10 January 1958, while No 69224 enjoyed two spells at Keith, arriving from Dundee on 14 March 1958 and then being reallocated to Ferryhill on 16 March 1959, followed by a return from Ferryhill on 21 December 1959 and finally its loss to St Margarets shed in Edinburgh from 19 June 1961.
The Scottish Region was an amalgam of ex-LMS and ex-LNER lines, so it is unsurprising that locomotives of LMS origin spread their wings. Table Seven lists the 14 that found a home at Keith, beginning with an ex-Caledonian Railway ‘439’ ‘McIntosh ‘Passenger Tank’ in November 1952, No 55185 from Forfar (originally CR No 466 of 1907), and another of these engines followed, from
Beattock, and both made a long term home. Other Scottish transfers included the already mentioned brace of McIntosh ‘3F’ 0-6-0s, as well as one of his 0-6-0Ts, No 56348 in January 1958. However, just under two months later there came a seemingly bizarre allocation of Fowler 2-6-2T No 40011 from England. Actually the locomotive had a specific purpose as BR needed stop-gap power to handle Speyside line trains after the 4-4-0s had gone and before diesel railbuses appeared, hence the move away from Keith when the new order was firmly in place. Also, the tank engine was valuable because it obviated the need to use the turntable at Boat of Garten shed, which by then can only be described as well-worn. Even so, the authors cannot help but observe that to bring such an engine from faraway Carnforth (it returned there after a brief stay at Corkerhill) does seem excessive! Surely by that period there were plenty of alternative engines at closer locations!
Other LMS era locomotives include six Fowler ‘2P’ 4-4-0s, which started to appear in
November 1956 and remained through to week ending 30 June 1961, while the 1960/61 period includes Ivatt ‘2MT’ Moguls
Nos 46460 and 46461, which although to an LMS design were completed at Crewe Works in May and June 1950. The final table of allocations for Keith – Table Eight – covers the ten British Railwqys Standard locomotives used from Keith, five Moguls and five of the versatile ‘4MT’ 2-6-4Ts. During their 12-month residence here the pair of ‘4MT’ Moguls, Nos 76106 and 76107, worked the Lossiemouth branch, both goods and passenger trains.
The Riddles ‘2MT’ Mogul allocation began with the arrival of Nos 78053 and
78054 in December 1956. They worked the Craigellachie-Boat of Garten service in 1957, and later that year No 78053 had five weeks at Fraserburgh working the St Combs branch, equipped with cowcatchers whilst regular engine No 46460 was in Crewe Works for overhaul. After railbuses took over the Craigellachie-Boat of Garten service – extended to Aviemore and Elgin from November 1958 – the BR ‘2MT’ pair worked the Banff-Tillynaught branch, being joined by No 78045 in June 1960. Tillynaught branch trains were composed of passenger and freight stock so were not suitable for diesel-multipleunit or railbus operation. The line became the last GNSR branch to be steam worked by summer 1961 when the three ‘2MTs’ were transferred to Ferryhill; No 78045 remained working the branch until passenger services were withdrawn in July 1964.
Finally, two diesel locomotives saw allocation to Keith shed, both Andrew
Barclay, Sons & Co Ltd 0-4-0DM 204hp shunters. No D2414 arrived on 24 October 1958, while No D2415 appeared on 15 November 1958; both would pass to Kittybrewster shed on 17 June 1961.
Keith shed is believed to have closed to steam from Tuesday, 6 June 1961, or thereabouts, some engine record cards offering later dates that month for various transfers away. In the post-Grouping and BR period covered, no less than 29 steam classes had a representation on the Keith allocation at some point, plus one diesel class, with a total of 129 steam locomotives and two diesels passing through the shed’s books.
W S Sellar
Keith-allocated Gresley ‘K2’ class 2-6-0 No 61779 is recorded on the south side of Keith Junction station at the head of a two-coach train on Wednesday, 8 October 1958. Completed in Leeds by Kitson & Co Ltd in July 1921 as GNR ‘H3’ class No 1689, this Mogul was one of five that arrived at Keith en masse on 7 July 1954 to bring a new type to the shed’s allocation. That fleet went on to peak at five ‘K2s’, between early September 1956 and mid-February 1959, with the last of the seven Keith-based engines withdrawn on 2 September 1960, by which time the shed had eight BR Standards to hand. Facing south-west, it seems likely that this is an Elgin service via Keith Town (just half a mile distant but much better for the heart of the community), Craigellachie (14½ miles), and Rothes (17½ miles); 27 miles in all. Note the mechanical horse on the left, beside the main line part of Keith Junction station.
P M Alexander/Kidderminster Railway Museum
LNER ‘J91’ class 0-6-0T No 6841 – originally GNSR Manson ‘E’ class No 41 (Kitson & Co Ltd Works No 2837 of June 1885) – is recorded in the yard at Keith shed on an unknown date. Once again, we have a well-travelled tank engine that has escaped from Kittybrewster, its only official home of allocation throughout its career
(June 1885 to June 1934). There are two schools of thought, a long distance duty of some 50-plus miles from the outskirts of Aberdeen, or that No 6841 was simply covering while Keith’s own ‘J91’, No 6838, was having works attention. The latter was Keith-based between 5 October 1926 and when withdrawn on 8 July 1933 as the last of the three ‘J91s’ in service. Incidentally, four of the six earlier built and largely similar ‘J90s’ (GNSR ‘D’) remained in use at that time, with all true to Kittybrewster throughout their lives.
Kidderminster Railway Museum J Wood F G Wood/Kidderminster Railway Museum
At work on the south side of Keith Junction station on Saturday, 23 August 1958 is the nearby shed’s ex-LNER ‘N15/1’ class 0-6-2T No 69224, with the boiler on the mark and the drain cocks doing little for the shunter’s visibility. The last built member of its class, in April 1924 and appropriately from the NBR’s own Cowlairs Works as a final batch of 20 of the W P Reid NBR design, at Keith it had followed in the footsteps of classmate
No 69201, albeit that 0-6-2T was on the books for less than a month, and two months with no ‘N15’ then followed. No 69224 had two periods of allocation at Keith, with this view recorded five months into the first. Ultimately, No 69224 would conclude its career working as a St Margaret’s engine, its demise coming in the week ending 1 October 1962.
Sporting a 61C shedplate to denote allocation to Keith shed, stovepipe chimney-fitted McIntosh ‘439’ class 0-4-4T No 55221 is on passenger stock in the east-facing bay at Elgin station on 26 June 1956. It seems likely that this ‘2P’-rated engine is acting as the station pilot, although once allocated to Keith both Nos 55185 and 55221 were known to work Elgin-Lossiemouth branch duties. By the date of this view nearly a decade had passed since Elgin shed lost the last of its own allocation and became a sub-shed of Keith. The pictured tank engine was completed at the Caledonian Railway’s own works at St Rollox, Glasgow in August 1914 as CR No 222, and while its early BR career still found it on ex-CR territory, the move from Beattock to Keith at the end of August 1953 pushed new frontiers, Aberdeen being the nearest former CR location.
Colour-Rail.com/SC944
The allocation of McIntosh ‘652’ class No 57634 to Inverness from February 1951 brought this wayward ex-Caledonian Railway 0-6-0 to Keith shed, presumably via the direct Elgin-Keith route; the ex-I&AJR shed in Keith had closed in 1948, with the town’s former GNSR shed picking up the extra servicing work. However, the reallocation of No 57634 to Keith from 10 July 1954 then made it an ever-present for the best part of seven years. This Monday, 2 August 1954 scene finds the then recent recruit crossing the River Spey with a passenger duty for Boat of Garten. The stop here is
12¼ miles into the 33¼ mile branch journey from Craigellachie, the picturesque line a favourite for countless enthusiasts. Judging by the scorched smokebox door, its ill fitting is compromising the locomotive’s steaming. New from St Rollox Works as CR No 657 in March 1908, this McIntosh ‘3F’ finally bowed out of service in August 1963, its final shed being Dalry Road, Edinburgh.
J L Stevenson/GNSRA Collection
In regard to locomotive allocations at Keith, the move of Fowler ‘3MT’ 2-6-2T No 40011 all the way from Carnforth seemed excessive! Nevertheless, the Derby-built engine of 1930 had probably not seen a lot of recent use, so Keith depot happily put it to work on Speyside line services, particularly because it did not need to use the Boat of Garten turntable. The locomotive is seen crossing the impressive bridge over the River Spey just east of the Carron station stop, its Aviemore to Keith train comprised two coaches, an ex-LMS composite corridor vehicle and a second brake corridor. The date is unrecorded but clearly during the period of the Fowler’s stay at 61C – 22 March 1958 to 30 July 1959. The engine eventually found its way back to Carnforth, from where it would be withdrawn on 6 August 1960, for scrapping at Gorton Works.
F W Hampson/ARPT
With smokebox door slightly ajar it seems that class ‘2P’ No 40600 was not in use when seen on Saturday 8 June 1957. One of seven ‘2Ps’ sent to Kittybrewster as intended replacements for the elderly GNSR 4-4-0s, No 40600 had been resident at Keith since November 1956 and remained until being taken out of service on 27 April 1959, followed by scrapping at Motherwell Machinery and Scrap, Wishaw.
T B Owen/Colour-Rail.com/394401
One of the first batch of three Fowler ‘2Ps’ sent to Kittybrewster shed in August 1950 from Corkerhill as intended replacements for elderly GNSR 4-4-0s (with four more following in 1954/55 from Corkerhill, Hurlford, Ayr and Dundee), No 40622 was resident at Keith from 3 November 1956 and remained so until taken out of service on 11 May 1961. New from Derby Works in November 1929, this 14 June 1960 photograph records the 4-4-0 with an up goods duty, the head of the train, at least, being fitted. The photographer is on what was the A979 road (today’s B9002) and the high ground offering the backdrop rises to 876ft and at it peak is the ruined Dunnideer Castle of circa 1260, a tower house built on the remains of a vitrified hill fort of circa 250 BC. The train is on approach to Insch, so around 26 miles from Kittybrewster, its likely destination.
M Carrier/Kidderminster Railway Museum
Around 250 yards from Elgin station, on
24 May 1956 the signalman at Elgin East box reaches up with the train staff that will allow BR Standard ‘4MT’ 2-6-4T No 80121 to continue on the former Morayshire Railway route towards Lossie Junction, the fireman already leaning out for receipt. Lossie Junction is where the original Lossiemouth line of August 1852 continues ahead and the Moray Coast route begins, turning east – the junction opened with the route to a temporary terminus at Garmouth on 12 August 1884, with completion of a ‘gap’ in the coast railway beyond there achieved on 5 April 1886. The line nearest the box, seemingly occupied by ex-CR 0-4-4T No 55221, is a lengthy headshunt, while that on the other side of the BR Standard is the route via Rothes to Craigellachie, with the connection to Elgin shed further over.
K C H Fairey/Colour-Rail.com/19913
Just two BR Standard ‘4MT’ Moguls saw allocation to Keith shed, Nos 76106 and 76107, coming in from Kittybrewster on 4 June 1960 and then departing for Aberdeen (Ferryhill) a little over a year later. On Wednesday, 17 August 1960 we find Keith shed’s No 76106 in the east-facing bay at Elgin station with a stopping service. Trains for Lossiemouth, the Moray Coast route via Portessie and Tillynaught, and that through Rothes and Craigellachie to Keith all used these platforms, although the two longer distance routes are the more likely options given the length of the train. Despite having a shamefully short career of less than 8 years 3 months, No 76106 saw allocation to six different depots, as if chased by dieselisation.
F G Wood/Kidderminster Railway Museum
One month later, on Monday, 25 June 1956 the only other BR Standard on the Keith books at the time, No 80122, waits on the south side of Keith Junction station with the 12.20pm service to Aberdeen. A pair of east-facing bay platforms is just in view on the right, with the through platform to/from Inverness going unseen beyond that. Built at Brighton Works, Nos 80121 and 80122 were brand new to Kittybrewster shed in 1955, on 22 July and 8 August respectively, and their move to Keith came as a pair on 12 November that year. They parted company on 19 June 1961 when No 80122 headed for Dalry Road upon what appears to be phased reallocations brought on by the closure of Keith shed. On paper, the only BR Standard to not fly the nest on that day was No 80121, which is logged as leaving for Aberdeen (Ferryhill) on the following day.
A Linaker/Kidderminster Railway Museum
Tillynaught was the junction station established by the Banff, Portsoy & Strathisla Railway upon its 30 July 1859 opening from the GNSR main line station of Grange, 4¼ miles to the Aberdeen side of Keith Junction, to both Banff and Portsoy. From humble beginnings, this impressive station was provided once the Portsoy line evolved into the Moray Coast route through to Elgin, this view being of the connecting Tillynaught to Banff branch service on 26 May 1961. Departing tender-first with its two-coach train is BR Standard ‘2MT’ Mogul No 78045, the third and last member of its class to join the Keith allocation, in mid-June 1960, albeit out-stationed in Banff. A year later, almost to the day, the closure of Keith shed would see No 78045 transferred to Aberdeen (Ferryhill) shed, but it remained working the Banff branch as the need to run mixed trains did not suit the use of diesel-multiple-units. Sadly, this lifeline for steam operations ended with passenger closure of the Banff branch on 6 July 1964.
A N H Glover/Kidderminster Railway Museum
Just two diesels saw allocation to Keith shed, Nos D2414 and D2415, this view on the south side at Keith Junction station recording the latter on 23 June 1959. Built by Andrew
Barclay (Works Nos 429 and 430), the pair of 0-4-0DM locomotives arrived brand new and generally saw use as station pilots at Keith and Elgin. While many smaller diesel shunters fell out of favour, this class of 35 locomotives had the solid choice of Gardner 8L3 engines of 204hp at 1,200rpm and so enjoyed success enough for ten of them to gain TOPS numbers as class ‘06’ from 1974; many withdrawals were simply down to the loss of rail borne business. No D2415 fell by the wayside in June 1968 but its former Keith compatriot became No 06002 and was finally withdrawn from Dundee diesel depot (the ex-CR Dundee West engine shed) in September 1981.