Engine No 520

Although Rankin & Blackmore had built hundreds of steam engines, including a good number for Clyde steamers, they had never built an engine for one of the North British / LNER Craigendoran fleet.

This was because Inglis built most of that fleet and supplied the engines and boilers as well as the hull. However, by the late 1940s demand for reciprocating steam engines was well on the wane and Inglis had given up building them. So they subcontracted the job of building WAVERLEY’s engine and first boiler to the Eagle Foundry. Rankin & Blackmore’s Engine No 520 can still be seen in all its glory and in excellent working order aboard WAVERLEY to this day. At 2100 indicated horse power it is one of the most powerful reciprocating engines ever fitted to a Clyde paddle steamer and when WAVERLEY was new it drove her at well over 18 knots whilst running at 56 rpm. By the late 1960s the engine was in need of considerable attention and it was unusual to see it running much faster than 36rpm. During the 1980s and 1990s a succession of dedicated engineers have restored Rankin & Blackmore’s mighty engine to magnificent condition and in recent years it has been possible to see it run at 50 rpm - an impressive sight even to the layman.

Engine No 520 being assembled at the Eagle Foundry in 1947