nbr-c-class

The North British Railway C Class (LNER J36) was a series of 168 inside-cylinder 0-6-0 goods locomotives designed by Matthew Holmes and built from 1888, representing the North British Railway's standard goods engine and one of the most numerous pre-Grouping 0-6-0 classes in Scotland. The J36 gave long and reliable service on North British goods traffic across the railway's extensive network of Scottish lowland and border routes — the coal traffic of the Lothians and Fife, the agricultural freight of the Borders, and the general goods of Edinburgh's hinterland — and the class's stamina was proved beyond doubt by its service in the First World War, when a significant number were requisitioned by the War Department for service on military light railways in France and Belgium.

The War Department locomotives were returned to the NBR after the Armistice and many were given names commemorating battles and generals of the First World War as a mark of their service — including the preserved example, No. 673 Maude, named after General Sir Frederick Maude who commanded the successful Mesopotamia campaign of 1917. Maude is preserved at the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway in LNER J36 livery, the sole surviving example of Holmes's celebrated workhorse class and a tangible link to the Scottish railway industry's contribution to the First World War effort.