British Railways 9F class 2-10-0 no. 92203 departs from Woking on the last leg of its journey from Crewe to Liss, where it transferred to the Longmoor Military Railway. Photo courtesy Steam Railway magazine and photographer Paul Cooper
British Railways 9F class 2-10-0 no. 92203 as it appears at the Cotswold Festival of Steam 2008 - just as it appeared 40 years previsously. Kevin Hoskin adds the paint, photograph by Ian Crowder.
One of the anniversaries being marked during the Cotswold
Festival of Steam is the four decades that artist and wildlife
conservationist David Shepherd has owned his beloved 9R 2-10-0
Black Prince. The story of the locomotive has often been told
but the remarkable journey of 92203 and Standard class 4 4-6-0 no.
75029 has recently appeared in the pages of Steam Railway and other
magazines as they tell of the approach to the end of BR steam.
92203 made its way under its own steam from Crewe to the
Longmoor Military Railway, an oasis of steam in Hampshire at the
time. On the footplate of the somewhat grimy locomotive was its new
owner, David Shepherd. Someone at Crewe had embellished the
handrails, hinges and brackets on the locomotive's smokebox in
white, giving a somewhat surreal appearance. During the
Festival, Black Prince appears as it did in 1968 to mark this
anniversary and on 1st June, there will be a very special event to
mark the past four decades of David's ownership of this
extraordinary locomotive. Click here for the full story and a
personal view from David himself.