Time Capsules
Train waiting at Oban c1960
Steam locomotive waiting at one of the platforms at Oban Railway Station, Scotland.
The identification of the locomotive is a bit of a guess, but I think it is a Caledonian Railway 439 class 0-4-4T steam locomotive.
Oban Railway Station opened in 1880. It is the terminus of the West Highland Line and currently only has two platforms rather then the 4 it had in better days, though the two platforms are still numbered 3 and 4 :)
Photo © The Step Back Through Time Collection
Picture added on 08 November 2009
This picture is in the following groups
Step back through Time, trains and stations
Step back through Time, trains and stations
Oban is not and was not the terminus for the West Highland line, which was builr between Glasgow and Fort William, then extended to Mallaig. Oban was the terminus for the Callander and Oban Railway, which was an extension from the Dunblane, Doune and Callander Railway. Both the C&O and the West Highland lines served Crianlarich and Tyndrum, but with separate stations in both towns, due to elevation differences between the lines. In 1965, the C&O was closed between Callander and Crianlarich, and a loop was built to allow Oban trains to use the West Highland line to Dumbarton and Glasgow. Crianlarich (lower) was closed. From Crianlarich the two lines continue on either side of the valley, through Tyndrum upper (WH) and lower (C&O)stations, then diverge to their respective termini. The C&O was built first, by approximately 20 years.
Added by Stephen Illingworth on 14 July 2010
Oban. Another view of the former Caledonian terminus, taken by Ben Brooksbank in 1948 and uploaded to the Geograph site: www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2039098
Added by Martin Bodman on 31 August 2010
Scotland
Here is information from the Scottish Railway Preservation Society concerning the last survivor of this class:
"From 1898, J.F.McIntosh designed a series of standard tank engines for the Caledonian Railway's short distance mineral and passenger trains. The initial design was for 0-6-0T locomotives, then in 1899 came an 0-4-4T design specifically for the Cathcart Circle and the Balerno branch. This was followed in 1900 by the largest and most successful class for general suburban and branch passenger work, the "439" 0-4-4T, a non-condensing version of a design already at work on the Glasgow Central Low Level lines.
These engines had large driving wheels and the standard Caledonian fitting of a Westinghouse air brake, and so they were fast away from station stops and fast into stations as well. The Caledonian built 76 locomotives to this design, and more were built by the London Midland & Scottish Railway after 1923. They were used all over the Caledonian system.
The locomotive (as No.55189) was withdrawn from British Railways service in 1962. As the last example of the class, it held great appeal for the then recently-formed Scottish Railway Preservation Society. The asking price of £750 proved difficult to raise and only a generous donation by Worcestershire farmer Mr W.E.C. Watkinson secured it for posterity.
In April 1965, after restoration at Cowlairs Works and now once again in Caledonian Railway livery, No.419 was delivered to the society's Falkirk Depot. Its first public steaming in preservation was in the autumn of 1971. Since then it has carried the SRPS flag at open days, celebrations and railway events all over Britain, including the Stockton & Darlington 150th anniversary cavalcade in 1975."