Not the best of pictures in terms of quality, but 92203 and 7907 Hart Hall are seen in Newport Ebbw Junction shed, August 1964. Do you have similar pictures of 92203, on shed, or on the road, during its life? If so, they might appear in David Shepherd’s updated book ‘A Brush with Steam’ (Photograph: Ian Crowder)  

In April 1959, a gleaming black locomotive emerged from Swindon Works - one of the last order of 9F 2-10-0s for British Railways. 92203 went off to Bristol St. Phillips Marsh (82B), and worked over the Somerset & Dorset line between Bournemouth and Bath. It also had a brief spell at Old Oak Common, while its last allocation was Birkenhead (6C) and worked out its last BR duties on the iron ore trains to Shotton steelworks.

It was then - in 1967 - that David Shepherd bought the engine from BR for £3,000 and the following year took it, under its own steam, to Longmoor in Hampshire for the start of its preservation career. David immediately named the locomotive Black Prince.

That story will be familiar to anyone who has read David's popular book A Brush with Steam, published by David & Charles in 1983. The book has long been out of print but is about to be updated and re-published by Silverlink, with a lot of new material. The present book ends with Black Prince at the East Somerset Railway but for the past decade it has been on the Honeybourne Line, during which time it was extensively overhauled.

David Shepherd is looking for new and unpublished photographs of the engine, particularly:

• In British Railways days, especially when brand-new and when working over the Somerset & Dorset
• Working other WR services while allocated to St, Phillips Marsh and Old Oak Common; and on shed
• At Birkenhead and working the Shotton ore trains
• Early preservation days at the Longmoor Military Railway
• When based at Eastleigh and working specials over BR during its tenure there
• On the East Somerset Railway and on the GWR; at the two open days at Merehead Quarry in 1983 and 2008 and visits to other railways such as the West Somerset, Churnet Valley, North Norfolk and at the National Railway Museum immediately following overhaul.

The images can be colour or black-and-white and need to be high-resolution scans suitable for reproduction. You can send them by email (no more than 6mb per email) to Ian Crowder or on a disk to Ian Crowder, GWSR, The Railway Station, Toddington, Glos GL54 5DT with your approval for them to be published if chosen. There will be a reproduction fee payable or you can elect for the fee to be paid direct in to the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation.