Loco no.123 Model
Model of locomotive no. 123, 1886 Neilson and Co T.1971.1.f
“I worked in the fitting shop and remember the locomotives were built up like a huge Lego set.”
Alexander Semple, former North British Locomotive employee
Comment by The Model Railway News, July 1938
There is only one small feature in which this [model] engine is not quite correct; this is the omission of the mudguards over the bogie-wheels.
From: The Model Railway News, July 1938
Comment by C Hamilton Ellis
In 1888 [the Caledonian Railway locomotive 123] was selected to operate on the West Coast racing trains between Carlisle and Edinburgh...On one occasion, the journey was made in 102 minutes, 33 seconds, or at an average speed, approximately, of 59 miles an hour...she was met nightly by cheering crowds.
From: The Railway Magazine, 1933
Comment by ian
Clip of Loco 123 from cab appears to from a diesel or electric loco - certainly not from #123
From: ian
Question by Glasgow Museums
Would you have the patience to make a model like this? Did you ever go to see the royal train?
Eyewitness by James Devaney
[Loco 123] was a racehorse – very temperamental, had to be mollycoddled all the way, and not particularly easy to fire, because it had to be looked after, and then the driver had to be very careful what he did with this very large wheel. Even when you were running and you gave it a bit too much [power] it would still begin to spin. How they won races with it, I don't know!
From: James Devaney, former locomotive fireman
Eyewitness by John Menzies
When I saw the locomotive, she was languishing in a timber yard at St Rollox, where I worked as an apprentice. Her tender had been used as a water tank for use in air raids during the war.
From: John Menzies, former apprentice at St Rollox Railway Works
