To be fair, the LSWR was the first railway to crack the modern 4-6-0 in the UK; it just wasn't Drummond to do it. It was another Scot though...
About the same time as Urie's first 4-6-0 on the LSWR, there was also F.G.Smith's "River" Class on the Highland
... a thoroughly modern 4-6-0 for its time (1915). However the Highland's civil engineer deemed it overweight and wouldn't allow it to run on the system and the six locos in the class were sold to the Caledonian - this in the middle of WW1 when the Highland was desperate for locomotives. The locos were very successful on the Caledonian but were restricted to heavy freight duties - there is a suggestion that this was to prevent comparison with the Caledonian 4-6-0 classes on passenger turns.
The interesting point is that the locomotives had been designed with reduced hammer blow and the damage to track was less than some of the Highland loco classes which preceded and succeeded them. After Grouping they returned to work on Highland metals.
The class suffered from its small size and lack of standardisation under the LMS but it managed to survive to the end of WW2. I believe two of the class spent their last days on ex G&SWR metals during the war nicknamed "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau".
Urie, who designed the LSWR locos was Dugald Drummond's assistant - F.G.Smith, the "Rivers" designer was Peter Drummond's (brother of Dugald) assistant.
Jim
