Casey

Casey is a large heavy freight locomotive built for Tri-ang Railways in 1915. He didn't start work for TR until 1919 and is known for being "accident prove" or "jinxed" due to his large list of near misses and accidents.

Bio
Casey was a part of an order from Tri-ang Railways to build a heavy freight steam locomotive capable of handling over 300tons of train on gradients of 1 in 45 without assistance from a banker. Casey was completed in 1915 but because of WWI, he didn't leave the USA and entered short-term service for the Sierra Railroad, but didn't give him a number. After the war ended, he and ALCO (American Locomotive Company)-built 0-4-0 "Camelback" shunting locomotive Anthony were shipped to Nerland in 1919 and both were given their official TR numbers. Casey took the next number after Anthony, No: 15, but was problematic in performance, he didn't meet up to expectations and is believed to be linked to his American design, being derived from a locomotive that Baldwin was building for the Pennsylvania Railroad back in the states. His crews were soon given training on how to handle him correctly and he proved to be a powerful locomotive, too powerful for British standards.

In 1937, Casey was involved in a derailment at Chapton Junction with another Baldwin-built steam locomotive, 2-6-0 No: 16 (now NIB owned) Marty. Marty's tender derailed on a section of faulty points and seconds later, Casey collided with the tender (which was badly damaged) and ended crashing into three houses at the bottom of the embankment, severely damaging him to nearly beyond repair. He was repaired and put back to service within four months after the accident. During WWII, Casey was involved in near miss when Loewy nearly rammed into him while going bunker-first. In 1943, Casey was beside Chapton Junction MPD when it caught fire and was again, severely damaged, but only burnt from the fire. In 1949, Tri-ang Railways gave Casey to British Railways for tests to see if BR could built a design based off Casey's. For this, British Railways renumbered him as '99990' for this and was stationed at 26C Bolton MPD in Lancashire, England. For unknown reasons, no design was built and he was back to TR but with the number '26C' written in white under the left buffer, and was renumbered back to 15 under TR. It is believed he was involved in another accident under BR ownership outside London on a goods train, or he didn't like working with the local heavy goods engines.

In 1958, Casey collided into six bogie carriages built by Rogers in the 1880s and 1890s (No: 6261, 1926, 3000, 6262, 1748 and 9035), completely writing them off and badly damaging him on a heavy coal train. Only two months later when one accident nearly sent Casey to the Ironworks for scrapping after he derailed during a storm and crashed into a motorway, killing his crew, the guard in the brake van, and 16 motorists.

Basis
Casey is based off the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) H10 class 2-8-0 steam locomotive for heavy freight duties across the Pennsylvania system. Unlike Casey, these were never fitted with Baker valve gear but were fitted with Walschaerts valve gear. Casey's tender appears to be based on the same tender coupled behind No: 3, a real life Sierra Railroad locomotive, which is famous for roles in wild west-themed movies.

Livery
Casey is painted in TR's black livery when he entered service for TR in 1919 with the No: 15 painted on the tender instead of the cab, and the TR "shield" emblem on the cabsides. In 1935, the number and emblem swapped locations to look more like a traditional steam locomotive.

In 1949, when TR gave him to British Railways for a two-year loan, Casey was painted in BR's unlined black livery with the "Cycling Lion" Early Emblem, but was returned to TR black after the loan was over. In 1985, Casey was given to BR again but for excursion traffic on the WCML from 1985 to 1991, painted in BR Brunswick Green with "Ferret and Dartboard" Late Crest. For these BR liveries, he was given the number '99990' to match the BR steam locomotive number scheme.

In 1991, Casey was repainted in BR's express blue but with the TR number '15' displayed on the cabsides, with nothing painted on the tender.

Trivia
Casey's name comes from Jonathan Luther "Casey" Jones, a locomotive driver for the Illinois Central Railroad who died in an accident in 1900.

Originally, Casey was going to have Baker Valve Gear and then rebuilt with Walschaerts Valve Gear in 1923. This was scrapped as none of his basis ever had Baker Valve Gear.

Like No: 13 Alexandra, Casey is accident prone, having a total of 105 minor accidents, 6 major accidents, and 1000+ near misses between 1919-2015. It has been claimed that he had an accident working for the Sierra Railroad back in the USA.