L & SWR Drummond Passenger & Mixed Traffic Locomotive Classes- A Survey & Overview

Dugald Drummond had a long career in locomotive and railway engineering, starting in Scotland, he worked and also held high office on the Highland, London Brighton & South Coast Railway, North British and Caledonian Railways, before arriving on the London & South Western Railway in the mid-1890s. He was quite unlike William Adams his predecessor, who was well-liked by the staff of the L & SWR, Drummond was a martinet and rough by comparison, who was at times hard to reason with. As a result of his stubborn nature, he died early after an accident that scalded his feet, having refused to have proper treatment. His locomotives were a mixed proposition of good, bad and indifferent, his 4-4-0 tender and 0-4-4 tank classes being very good, however his 4-6-0 tender locomotives were another proposition, proving to be a disappointment. Many of his 4-4-0 tender and 0-4-4 tank locomotives, the T9 and M7 classes, lasted until the early 1960s on British Railways and examples are preserved in the National Collection.