Highland Railway Loch Class

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The Highland Railway Loch Class locomotives were small 4-4-0s normally used north of Inverness.

They were introduced in 1896, the design of David Jones, and had the typical Jones appearance of outside cylinders, domed cab roof, louvred chimney, Allan style front framing and Allan valve gear.

Leading dimensions were: boiler pressure 180 lb/sq inch; cylinders 19 inches bore by 24 inch stroke; driving wheels 6 foot 3.5 inch diameter; weight 54 tons 10 cwt; and starting tractive effort 17560 lbf.

Fifteen were built by Dübs and Co in Glasgow, all going into traffic between July and September of 1896:

HR number	Name	LMS number
119	Loch Insh
120	Loch Ness
121	Loch Ericht
122	Loch Moy
123	Loch an Dorb	14383
124	Loch Laggan
125	Loch Tay
126	Loch Tummel
127	Loch Garry
128	Loch Luichart	14388
129	Loch Maree
130	Loch Fannich
131	Loch Shin
132	Loch Naver
133	Loch Laoghal

Three more were built in 1916 by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow:

HR number	Name	LMS number
70	Loch Ashie
71	Loch Garve
72	Loch Ruthven

These were needed primarily for the increased traffic on the Kyle line where they were the heaviest locomotives permitted. It should be remembered that this period was when the initial traffic of the United States effort in WW 1 was flowing, and much was brought to the west coast of Scotland in an effort to reduce the effect of the U-Boat menace. The trains ran from Kyle to Invergordon so it was a wholly HR traffic.

One (Loch Tay) survived to reach British Railways ownership, and No. 119 (Loch Insh) is known to have survived to 1938 as LMS Number 14379.

They were classified '2P' by the LMS.