Dugald Drummond had a long career in locomotive and railway engineering, staring in Scotland, Drummond worked and also held high office on the Highland, London Brighton & South Coast Railway, North British and Caledonian Railways, before arriving on the London & South Western Railway in the mid 1890s.
He was quite unlike William Adams his predecessor, who was a mild mannered gentleman, well liked by the staff of the L & S W R, Drummond was a martinet and rough by comparison, who was at times hard to reason with.
As a result of his stubborn nature, he died early after an accident that scalded his feet, having refused to have proper treatment.
His locomotives were a mixed proposition of good bad and indifferent, his 4–4–0 tender and 0–4–4 tank classes being very good, however his 4–6–0 tender locomotives were another proposition, proving to be a disappointment except the T14 class which lasted in service until 1951.
Many of his 4–4–0 tender and 0–4–4 tank locomotives, the T9 and M7 classes, lasted until the early 1960s on British Railways and examples are preserved in the National Collection and on the Swanage Railway.
