Black Prince with the ballast train at Winchcombe (Ian Crowder)


A happy David Shepherd in the cab (Ian Crowder)

Sunday 1st June promises to be a pretty special day as the Cotswold Festival of Steam winds to a close. David Shepherd will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of his taking possession of a 140 ton steam locomotive off British Railways. Just 8 years old, the 9F class 2-10-0 no. 92203 was destined for the cutters' torches as British Railways finished with steam the same year. The engine, in grubby condition, made the epic journey to Hampshire for a new life in private ownership and, shortly afterwards, David named his locomotive Black Prince.

The RAF started David's career as an artist and he has raised considerable sums of money for the RAF Benevolent Fund. He has remained firm friends with the service, particularly the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, ever since. Last December, servicemen from the Flight spent a day on the footplate of Black Prince, on a specially-organised Fire & Drive course - and the reciprocal result was the offer to fly past during the Festival and that also happens on 1st June.

The programme or the day is:

11.10 - Black Prince departs Toddington for Winchcombe with the demonstration freight train. On arrival at Winchcombe, the engine parks in the bay next to platform 2, where you can visit the footplate and meet David Shepherd.

11.45 approx - Celebration to mark 40 years since Black Prince was handed over to David Shepherd.  The nameplate will ceremonially be fixed to the engine

13.57 - Black Prince returns to Toddington with the freight train, arriving 10 minutes later

15.00 (approx) - Battle of Britain Memorial Flight swoop by (weather permitting).  While this is happening, Black Prince will be at Toddington waiting to be attached to its next train

15.30 - Black Prince departs for Cheltenham with a passenger train. Black Prince then remains at Cheltenham for footplate visits until:

17.20 - departs Cheltenham Racecourse station, double-heading with locomotive 34007 'Wadebridge' re-creating the Pines Express, which both locomotives once worked over the former Somerset & Dorset railway in the early 1960s.

For full details of the timetable and movements of all other locomotives during the day click here

For details of the locomotive allocations, to be read in conjunction with the timetable, click here - please note possible changes to the roster.

To download a copy of our press release click here

For the David Shepherd story and a picture of Black Prince taken in 1968 click here