April 2009 marked the 50^th birthday of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway's largest resident locomotive, 9F 2-10-0 no. 92203 Black Prince, owned by artist and wildlife conservationist David Shepherd.

Black Prince certainly impresses.  It is by any measure, a very large engine and its design marked the pinnacle of steam locomotive development in the UK and could be counted among the most successful locomotive classes to run in Britain. 

Black Prince was completed at Swindon in 1959 - right at the end of steam locomotive construction by British Railways.  Only 16 more steam locomotives were to be built and the last was no. 92220 Evening Star, which emerged from Swindon in 1960 (and is now displayed at STEAM, the museum of the Great Western Railway which is housed in part of the former railway works). 

The 9Fs were finished in plain black, Evening Star being the only exception, appearing in the BR express livery: fully lined-out Brunswick green.  And it was finished with a copper-capped chimney, in the true Swindon tradition.  Evening Star was in fact, the only member of the class to be named - 92203 was named by David Shepherd, when he purchased the locomotive out of British Railways service in 1967.

R A Riddles

The 9F class was developed by Col. Robert A (Robin) Riddles, CBE, FIMechE who was a railwayman almost all his working life.  He started at Crewe with the London & North Western Railway in 1909 and during the First World War, served in France with the Royal Engineers.  He returned to Crewe in 1920 and was influential in the re-organisation of Crewe works before the grouping, when the LNWR became absorbed by the London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS).  He then went to Derby where, with the then Derby works manager, H G Ivatt, reorganised the works there. 

During the General Strike of 1926, Riddles volunteered as a driver and acquitted himself well - gaining a very intimate understanding of steam locomotive design and performance.  He later went on to become Assistant to the CME of the LMS, Sir William Stanier.  It's interesting to note that Riddles was appointed to take the LMS's streamlined no. 6220 Coronation Scot locomotive (actually, it was 6229 Duchess of Hamilton with exchanged identity) and train to tour the USA in 1939 following the New York World's Fair.  Duchess of Hamilton has recently been re-streamlined and is (in 2009) on display at the National Railway Museum.

With the advent of the Second World War, Riddles was seconded by the LMS to the Ministry of Supply as Director of Transportation Equipment.  It is in this position that the seeds were sown which eventually blossomed into the British Railways Standard locomotives, including the 9Fs.  At the Ministry, Riddles was expected to meet a need for locomotives that would meet urgent War Department transport requirements overseas: demanding robust, simple design.  Initially demand was met by production of an additional 200 Stanier 8Fs.  Riddles went on to design a more straightforward 'austerity' 2-8-0 which became knows as the WD class, but was of a much simpler and thus cheaper and easier design to manufacture, using for example, fabrications in place of castings for many components.  At the peak of production these functional locomotives were being turned out at a rate of almost one per day, taking half the length of time needed to build an 8F (there is an example of a wartime 8F at Toddington, former WD no. 45160 and latterly owned by Turkish State Railways. However, it was allocated an LMS no: 8274). 

The WD's were very successful and Riddles went on to design a 2-10-0 version - the first locomotive design in the UK of that wheel arrangement and, if anything, more successful and popular than the 2-8-0 version.  Riddles (who also produced an austerity 0-6-0 saddle-tank design) was awarded the CBE for his work during the War and, afterwards returned to the LMS in 1946 where he was appointed Vice President of Engineering.

But it was not long before the railways were nationalised, on 1 January 1948.  Riddles was then appointed by the Ministry of Transport as 'Member for Mechanical and Electrical Engineering' on the Railway Executive and the CMEs of the former railway companies reported to him.  In his new role, he set about designing 12 standard locomotive designs to meet all UK requirements.  The last of these designs was the 9F 2-10-0.

Riddles retired in 1953 on abolition of the Railway Executive and went on to become a director of the crane maker, Stothert & Pitt.

Ten-coupled freight

The Standard designs took many of the best features of locomotives of the constituent railway companies.  The Standard designs were generally successful and when it came to developing a new freight locomotive, initially a 2-8-2 was conceived that would use the standard Britannia 4-6-2 boiler.  However, Riddles' preference for a 10-coupled engine with 5ft diameter driving wheels held sway even though, to accommodate a set of driving wheels beneath the wide firebox, a new boiler was designed.  However, the 9F used the same cylinders (20in. by 28in.) as the Brittania and several other common components.

The first of the class, 92000, was delivered in 1954.  With its Britannia-like smoke deflectors and high running-plate it was impressive to look at: at the same time aesthetically pleasing and obviously powerful.  Construction was shared between Crewe and Swindon and the new engines very quickly acquitted themselves as capable, economical, easy to drive, fire and maintain. 

With their rocking grates and hopper ashpans they were also easy to dispose at the end of their working day and they very soon settled in to managing heavy freight workings such as oil, coal, steel and other turns with distinction.  They proved capable of dealing with gradients which previously routinely needed double-heading or banking and it soon became evident that they had a good turn of speed, too. 

One of their first regular passenger turns was on the hilly Somerset & Dorset line between Bournemouth and Bath, handling the heavy Pines Express with aplomb.  When delivered, the GWR's example, 92203, was put to work on this line. 

The last of the class, Evening Star, was allocated to Cardiff Canton, at a time when the crack 'Red Dragon' express to and from Paddington was handled by Britannia pacifics.  One day Evening Star was rushed into handling this service following failure of the usual locomotive and the engine, running easily at speeds in excess of 80mph, kept to time and it started to become a regular locomotive on the service.  However, the Western Region control soon got wind of this and put a stop to 'freight engines' handling prestige expresses.

There has been a number of incidents of 9Fs deputising for failed express locomotives and speeds of over 90mph have been recorded by them - most famously on an up train to Kings Cross that was carrying the Eastern Region's general manager when 92mph was reached.

Variations

There were some variations in the design, most relatively minor, such as use of double and single blast pipes.  The most notable experiment was fitting of Franco-Crosti pre-heater boilers which were particularly ugly: and were not very successful given the smaller loading gauge compared with that in Italy and Germany, where such designs worked well. 

Essentially, the Crosti-boiler has a drum beneath the main boiler which heated feed water to a temperature only a little less than that in the boiler itself.  The hot gasses passed down the boiler and then back through the water heater to a blast chamber and exhaust on the right-hand side of the boiler barrel, just in front of the firebox.  Ten were built but they didn't return the expected economy while smoke and steam was prone to entering the cab, making life unpleasant for the crew.  It was not long before the water heater was removed and the engines reverted to conventional operation - although they still retained their unconventional appearance.

The class was more than capable of handling the heaviest freights in the UK and this was more than demonstrated by 92203 Black Prince when in 1983, it set the record for the heaviest train ever hauled by a steam locomotive in Britain, starting a 2,162-ton train at Foster Yeoman's Merehead quarry in Somerset.  In 2008 Black Prince returned to the quarry where it once again demonstrated its capability, lifting ore trains approaching the 2,000-ton mark.

By the early 1960s, the days of steam were clearly numbered as the reliability of diesels improved.  Although the 9Fs were designed to work until the 1980s the modernisation plan was rushing through at an unseemly pace.  Classes such as the ubiquitous Brush Type 4 (Class 47 - two examples of which are on the GWR) were built in large numbers.  While the 9Fs hung on with some of the heaviest freights in the UK, they were being withdrawn in increasing numbers and the last ended their service in 1968, right at the end of BR steam.  Most of the class had put in less than a decade of service, including 92203 which ended its BR career at Birkenhead following withdrawal of steam from the Summers Ore trains which the 9Fs handled. 

Indeed 92203, specially bulled-up for the occasion, handled the very last of these trains, with the Chairman of Summers Ore, Sir Richard Summers and a youthful David Shepherd, who had just put in a bid for no. 92203.  The locomotive was then moved to Crewe and, but for David Shepherd, an artist who was making his mark with extraordinary paintings of aircraft and wildlife following sponsorship by the RAF, the engine would have succumbed to the cutter's torch at less than nine years old. 

David Shepherd and Black Prince

David Shepherd's story will be familiar to many readers but suffice to say here, that David had developed a keen interest in the aesthetics of steam locomotives. 

During the dying days of steam, he became a familiar figure capturing the last locomotives on canvas at a number of depots, such as York, Willesden, Nine Elms and Guildford.  However, he is best known for his stunning paintings of wildlife subjects, especially elephants and tigers.

David had first bought Standard class 4 4-6-0 no 75029 in 1967, the engine still working out of Wrexham shed and the inspiration to do so came from a desire to try to save something from the mass slaughter of locomotives at the end of steam.  75029 has since been sold and is working now on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. 

The decision to buy a 9F as well was, as David will readily admit, an impulse following sell-out exhibition in New York, in May 1967.  He says he came home: 'in an elated frame of mind and at once telephoned my British Railways friend and asked: "Can I have a 9F as well, the best available?"'

BR told him that 92203 had recently had works attention and had just been smartened up to haul the last steam-hauled ore train to Shotton steelworks - going on to say that she was probably the best of the 70 members the class then remaining.  David travelled on the footplate of that last train, after which the engine was formally withdrawn from Birkenhead shed and shortly afterwards moved to Crewe to join 75029. 

And the cost of 92203?  Just £3,000 - in full working order.

Elation soon turned to worry, though.  In 1968 David was served an 'eviction order' from Crewe shed as it was to be bulldozed but he had no-where to take them - until a chance conversation with an Army Colonel led to an offer being made to take the locomotives to the Longmoor Military Railway in Hampshire.  

Then came months of negotiation with British Rail to overcome their insistence that the engines should be hauled by diesel and allow them to work under their own steam to Longmoor.  The argument went right up to the Chairman of British Rail who, after 11 months of frustration agreed that they could indeed travel under their own steam - breaking the steam ban over the electrified Southern Region.  The journey was completed in two stages, with an overnight stay at Cricklewood.

The two locomotives, along with others such as Bulleid pacifics Clan Line and Blackmoor Vale and an Ivatt 2-6-2 tank locomotive, remained for a couple of years at this small oasis of steam in Hampshire until the Longmoor Military Railway was closed, despite a last-ditch effort to preserve it.

The next chapter took place at Eastleigh Works, where British Railways rented siding space for £20 per week and during its tenure, 92203 made a number of forays out on the main line with specials and appeared in steam at Eastleigh open days. 

The next move was to Cranmore, on what was to become the East Somerset Railway in which David was heavily involved.  Both locomotives worked there for several years after opening of that line in 1975.  Eventually, however, Black Prince found its way to the fast-developing Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway in 1998 following a visit to the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham for the Warley Model Railway Exhibition.  It soon settled down at Toddington and worked regularly although with increasing problems which underlined that it was becoming in need of serious work. 

The engine's then-current boiler certificate expired and the engine moved to Bill Parker's Flour Mill workshops for an overhaul.  Considerable work was needed particularly to the boiler, which had large areas of thinned platework cut out and replaced.  Returning to the railway in 2006, the engine was 'relaunched' with Alan Tichmarsh and David Shepherd but the joy was short lived - as it was decided that the locomotive's steel tyres, especially the rear driving wheels - needed replacing having worn beyond re-machining.  This work was carried out at Ian Riley's Bury, Lancashire works.

Crowd puller

Black Prince has, since then, performed well, wowing the crowds with its sheer size.  David Shepherd has been a regular visitor to the railway and, in 2008 the locomotive was instrumental in raising considerable sums of money for wildlife conservation.

A number of David's paintings on a range of subjects, particularly wildlife, were displayed at Winchcombe for a 'Wildlife & Steam' event.  A special evening included an amusing and enjoyable talk by David with a 'private view' of the pictures afterwards.  Of particular interest were railway paintings with several oil sketches displayed for the first time for many years: sketches and paintings that captured the very essence of the grimy, run-down state of the last steam depots and locomotives.  This event raised an astounding £18,000 for the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, which does extraordinarily valuable work for endangered species mainly in Africa and India. 

As David says: "Saving Black Prince for posterity has been an enormous privilege. 

"But of course, with enough money you could build another one, as has been proven with the magnificent, brand-new A1 pacific, Tornado. 

"But you can't rebuild a tiger once it has become extinct - we must do all we humanly can to save such species that are on the very brink of extinction.  Once they have gone, they have gone for ever.  There aren't any blueprints in a dusty museum archive that could enable them to be re-created once again."

This story ends with celebrations to mark the locomotive's 50^th birthday during 2009 on the GWR.  David Shepherd - popular as ever - spent two separate days on the railway, drawing crowds of well-wishers keen to see the artist who has had a life-long 'Brush with Steam'.  Long may Black Prince perform on the GWR and continue to contribute to the conservation of wildlife around the world.

9F class vital statistics

References:

Rogers, Colonel H.C.B: "The Last Steam Locomotive Engineer: R.A.Riddles", George Allen & Unwin, London 1970: ISBN 0 0438 5053 7
Shepherd, David: "The man who loves Giants", David & Charles, ISBN 0 7153 7052 9
Shepherd, David, "A Brush with Steam", David & Charles, ISBN 0-7153-8157-1
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BR_Standard_Class_9F
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Riddles
Bernie Holland Photo Archive: http://www.bernieholland-honeybourneline.fotopic.net/