The British Railways Standard Class 9F is a class of steam locomotive designed for British Railways by Robert Riddles. The Class 9F was the last in a series of standardised locomotive classes designed for British Railways during the 1950s, and was intended for use on fast, heavy freight trains over long distances. It was one of the most powerful steam locomotive types ever built for British Railways, and successfully performed its intended duties. The 9F class was given the nickname of 'Spaceship', due to its size and shape.
At various times during the 1950s, the 9Fs worked passenger trains with great success, indicating the versatility of the design, sometimes considered to represent the ultimate in British steam development. Several experimental variants were constructed in an effort to reduce costs and maintenance, although these met with varying degrees of success. They were capable of reaching speeds of up to 90 miles per hour (145 km/h).
The total number built was 251, production being shared between Swindon (53) and Crewe Works (198). The last of the class, 92220 Evening Star, was the final steam locomotive to be built by British Railways, in 1960. Withdrawals of the class began in 1964, with the final locomotives being withdrawn from service in 1968, the final year of steam traction on British Railways. Nine examples have survived into the preservation era in varying states of repair, including Evening Star.
O. S. Nock stated "The '9F' was unquestionably the most distinctive and original of all the British standard steam locomotives, and with little doubt the most successful. They were remarkable in their astonishing capacity for speed as well as their work in heavy freight haulage."
Concept and Construction
Background
The British Transport Commission had proposed that the existing steam locomotive fleet be replaced by both diesel and electric traction. However the board of British Railways, which wanted the railways to be completely electrified, ignored the BTC and ordered a new fleet of 'standard' steam locomotive designs as a stopgap ahead of electrification. Freight was well catered for in terms of locomotive availability after nationalisation in 1948, with a number of heavy freight locomotives built to aid the war effort forming part of British Railways' inheritance. This consisted of 666 LMS 8F Class and numerous Robert Riddles designed WD Austerity 2-8-0s and WD Austerity 2-10-0s.
It was the Eastern Region's Motive Power officer, L.P. Parker, who made the case for a new design of powerful freight locomotive, able to shift heavy loads at fast speeds in round trips between distant destinations within the eight-hour shift of the footplate crew. Riddles took up the challenge, initially designing a locomotive, but settled upon the 2-10-0 wheel arrangement for the increased traction and lower axle load that five coupled axles can provide. The resultant design became one of the most successful, but shortest-lived, locomotive classes ever built in Britain. but Riddles eventually settled upon a 2-10-0 type because it had been used successfully on some of his previous Austerity locomotives. Distributing the adhesive weight over five axles gave a maximum axle load of only .
! Numbers !! Year !! Builder !! Tender !! Notes
|-
| 92000–09 || 1954 || Crewe || BR1G || 8 for WR, 2 for LMR
|-
| 92010–14 || 1954 || Crewe || BR1F || for ER
|-
| 92015–19 || 1954 || Crewe || BR1C || for LMR
|-
| 92020-29 || 1955 || Crewe || BR1B || Franco-Crosti boiler; for LMR
|-
| 92030–44 || 1954 || Crewe || BR1F || for ER
|-
| 92045–59 || 1955 || Crewe || BR1C || for LMR
|-
| 92060–66 || 1955 || Crewe || BR1B || for NER
|-
| 92067–76 || 1956 || Crewe || BR1F || for ER
|-
| 92077–86 || 1956 || Crewe || BR1C || for LMR
|-
| 92087–96 || 1957 || Swindon || BR1F || for ER
|-
| 92097–99 || 1956 || Crewe || BR1B || for NER
|-
| 92100–18 || 1956 || Crewe || BR1C || for LMR
|-
| 92119–39 || 1957 || Crewe || BR1C || for LMR
|-
| 92140–49 || 1957 || Crewe || BR1F || for ER
|-
| 92150–64 || 1958 || Crewe || BR1C || for LMR
|-
| 92165–67 || 1958 || Crewe || BR1K || for LMR; tenders later BR1C
|-
| 92168–77 || 1958 || Crewe || BR1F || for ER
|-
| 92178–83 || 1957 || Swindon || BR1F || for ER
|-
| 92184–202 || 1958 || Swindon || BR1F || for ER
|-
| 92203–17 || 1959 || Swindon || BR1G || for WR
|-
| 92218–20 || 1960 || Swindon || BR1G || for WR
|-
| 92221–50 || 1958 || Crewe || BR1G || for WR
|}
Variations
The 9F was used as a proving ground for a variety of technical innovations intended to provide improvements in efficiency, power or cost.
Franco-Crosti boiler
thumb|Right hand view of a Crosti BR Standard 9F 2-10-0, No. 92024, showing the unique layout
thumb|9F 92029 at Newport in 1963. By this stage it had been converted back to a conventional arrangement
Ten locomotives (numbers 92020-92029) were built in 1955 with the Franco-Crosti boiler which incorporated a combustion gas feed water preheater that recuperated low-grade residual heat. In the 9F version, this took the form of a single cylindrical water drum running along the underside of the main boiler barrel. The standard chimney on top of the smokebox was only used during lighting up. In normal working the gases went through firetubes inside the preheater drum that led to a second smokebox situated beneath the boiler from which there emerged a chimney on the right-hand side, just forward of the firebox. In the event, the experiment did not deliver the hoped-for benefits, and efficiency was not increased sufficiently to justify the cost and complexity. Moreover, conditions were unpleasant on the footplate in a cross-wind, this in spite of the later provision of a small deflector plate forward of the chimney. These problems led to the subsequent removal of the preheater drum, although the locomotives did retain the original main smokebox with its distinctive look.
Westinghouse Pump Variation
The ten 9F locomotives (92060-92066 and 92097–92099) allocated to Tyne Dock on the NER were fitted with Westinghouse Pumps to drive the pneumatic doors on the 56 ton ore hopper wagons which operated on the heavily inclined Consett line to the Consett Iron Company. These additional pumps allowed automatic discharging of the ore train, consisting of nine hoppers, in under a minute at Consett.
Mechanical stoker and blastpipe variation
Locomotive numbers 92165–92167 were built with a mechanical stoker, which was a helical screw that conveyed coal from the tender to the firebox, where it would be directed to the required part of the grate by high-pressure steam jets controlled by the fireman.
thumb|A 9F hauling an express passenger train at [[Bath Green Park railway station|Bath Green Park station in 1962]]
The 9F also proved its worth as a passenger locomotive, adept at fast running despite its small driving wheels, and for a time was a frequent sight on the Somerset and Dorset Railway,
In 1960, 9Fs from the Western Region's Cardiff Canton shed (code 86C) were also regularly made ready as 'standby' locomotives - in case of failure of the more usual Britannias - on the region's flagship Paddington-Cardiff/Swansea passenger express trains, the Red Dragon and Capitals United Express. Locomotives used on these duties included No. 92220 Evening Star, the only 9F to be given a name and to be painted in the express passenger livery of lined Brunswick green. On 8 September 1962 No. 92220 also hauled the last Pines Express to use the Somerset and Dorset route.
Like other primarily goods locomotives, British Railways' fleet of 9Fs also saw extensive passenger service in hauling Saturday 'Holiday Specials', especially in the North East and Western regions.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Table of withdrawals
! Year !! Quantity in<br />service at<br />start of year !! Quantity<br />withdrawn !! Locomotive numbers !! Notes
|-
| 1964 || 251 || 16 || align=left| 92034/36,<br />92169–71/75–77/96/98–99,<br />92207/10/29/32/45. || Numbers 92207 and 92245 are preserved.
|-
| 1965 || 235 || 65 || align=left| 92000/03/05/07/33/37–42/44/57/66,<br />92140–44/47–49/68/74/78–81/84–95/97,<br />92200/02/09/14/16/19–22/25–26/30/35–38/40–44/46/48/50. || Evening Star was withdrawn this year. Numbers 92214, 92219, 92220, 92240 are preserved.
|-
| 1966 || 170 || 46 || align=left| 92010/13/28/35/43/53/58–64/67–68/72/75/81/85/92/95/97–99,<br />92115–16/24/30/34/36/45–46/55/58/61/64/72–73/82–83,<br />92201/13/17/31/39/47. || Number 92134 is preserved.
|-
| 1967 || 124 || 106 || align=left| 92001–02/06/08/11–12/14–27/29–32/45–52/55–56/65/70–71/73–74/76/78–80/82–84/86–87/89–90/93/96,<br />92100–14/17/19–23/25–29/31–33/35/37–39/50–52/54/56–57/59/62–63/66,<br />92203–06/08/11/15/24/27–28/34. || Number 92203 is preserved.
|-
| 1968 || 18 || 18 || align=left| 92004/09/54/69/77/88/91/94,<br />92118/53/60/65/67,<br />92212/18/23/33/49. || Number 92212 is preserved.
|-
|}
Accidents and incidents
- On 19 November 1958, locomotive No. 92187 was hauling a freight train which overran signals and was in a rear-end collision with another at , Hertfordshire. A third freight train, hauled by Ex-LNER Class V2 2-6-2 No. 60885, ran into the wreckage.
- On 7 April 1964, locomotive No. 92161 was hauling a freight train that was derailed at Howe & Co's Signalbox, Cumberland due to a combination of defects on a wagon, excessive speed and minor track defects.
Livery and numbering
thumb| All but one 9F was painted unlined black. Pictured is 92212, now preserved, hauling a cement train at [[Preston railway station|Preston station in August 1964]]
The class were painted British Railways Freight Black without lining. The British Railways crest was located on the tender side. Given the British Railways power classification 9F, the locomotives were numbered in the 92xxx series, between 92000 and 92250.
|align=left|Crewe Works
|align=left|Jun 1957
|align=left|Dec 1966
|align=left|9 years, 6 months
|align=left|North Yorkshire Moors Railway
|align=left|BR Black, Late Emblem
|align=left|Operational
|200px
|-
|align=left|92203 'Black Prince'
|align=left|BR1G
|align=left|Swindon Works
|align=left|Apr 1959
|align=left|Nov 1967
|align=left|8 years, 7 months
|align=left|Bressingham Steam and Gardens
|align=left|BR Black, Late Emblem
|align=left|Stored
|200px
|-
|align=left|92207 (Unofficial name 'Morning Star')
|align=left|N/A
|align=left|Swindon Works
|align=left|Jun 1959
|align=left|Dec 1964
|align=left|5 years, 6 months
|align=left|Private site - Poole
|align=left|N/A
|align=left|Undergoing Restoration
|200px
|-
|align=left|92212
|align=left|BR1F
|align=left|Swindon Works
|align=left|Sep 1959
|align=left|Jan 1968
|align=left|8 years, 4 months
|align=left|Mid Hants Railway
|align=left|BR Black, Late Emblem
|align=left|
|align=left|200px
|-
|align=left|92214 Named 'Leicester City' at withdrawal in 2023
|align=left|BR1G
|align=left|Swindon Works
|align=left|Oct 1959
|align=left|Sep 1965
|align=left|5 years, 11 months
|align=left|Great Central Railway
|align=left|
|align=left|Awaiting overhaul
|200px
|-
|align=left|92219
|align=left|N/A
|align=left|Swindon Works
|align=left|Jan 1960
|align=left|Sep 1965
|align=left|5 years, 8 months
|align=left|Strathspey Railway
|align=left|N/A
|align=left|Stored, under long-term restoration
|200px
|-
|align=left|92220 'Evening Star'
|align=left|BR1G
|align=left|Swindon Works
|align=left|Mar 1960
|align=left|Mar 1965
|align=left|5 years
|align=left|National Railway Museum
|align=left|BR Lined Green, Late Emblem
|align=left|Static Display
|200px
|-
|align=left|92240
|align=left|BR1C
|align=left|Crewe Works
|align=left|Oct 1958
|align=left|Sep 1965
|align=left|6 years, 11 months
|align=left|Bluebell Railway
|align=left|BR Black, Late Emblem
|align=left|
|200px
|-
|align=left|92245
|align=left|N/A
|align=left|Crewe Works
|align=left|Nov 1958
|align=left|Dec 1964
|align=left|6 years, 1 month
|align=left|Barry Tourist Railway
|align=left|N/A
|align=left|
|200px
|}
† In most cases, names are not historically accurate; i.e. they have all been applied in preservation except 92220 which, being the last steam locomotive to be built for BR, was named Evening Star during its unveiling in 1960. Some locomotives may also have names, but marked names indicate that the locomotive is not presently wearing them.
Of the nine surviving members of the class, two have run on the main line: nos. 92203 Black Prince & 92220 Evening Star. Due to the engines' flangeless centre driving wheels, there is a concern that the raised check rails on modern pointwork might cause a derailment, so the class (alongside other 2-10-0 locomotives) is currently prohibited from operating on the main line – including the Esk Valley Line from Battersby to Whitby, used by the North Yorkshire Moors Railway on their Grosmont to Whitby trains alongside the regular passenger services on the route.
Models
OO scale
The erstwhile Kitmaster company produced an unpowered polystyrene injection moulded model kit for scale. In late 1962, the Kitmaster brand was sold by its parent company (Rosebud Dolls) to Airfix, which transferred the moulding tools to their own factory; the 9F class was among the re-introduced former Kitmaster range. In time, the moulding tools passed on to Dapol, which also produced the kit. During the 1960s a cast white metal chassis kit in the Simplas range to motorise the model was made available by Wilro Models of Hackney, London.
In late 1971, Tri-ang Hornby introduced a 00 scale Ready to Run model of this locomotive; it continued to be produced after the rebranding as Hornby Railways.
N scale
In the 1980s Minitrix produced two ready-to-run British N gauge models of the class, including a model of 92220 Evening Star.
In 2008, Dapol introduced a British N gauge model of locomotive 92100. The following year, Dapol were commissioned to produce a British N gauge ready-to-run model of 92203 by TMC.
In fiction
The character Murdoch from Thomas & Friends, introduced in the show's seventh season is based on a BR Standard Class 9F locomotive.