The appearance on Monday 18th of October 2004 of both Great Western 2-8-0T* no. 4247 (at that time a resident on the GWR) and 9F 2-10-0* no. 92203 Black Prince demonstrated half a century of freight locomotive development.

The occasion was the re-dedication of David Shepherd's locomotive, 'Black Prince', at Toddington. No 4247 is essentially a tank locomotive version of the first-ever eight-coupled* heavy freight design in the UK.

First 2-8-0 in the UK

That pioneer, locomotive no. 97, was completed in 1903 at Swindon works and was an immediate success. The prototype was later renumbered 2800 and the first production run of 20 locomotives were completed between 1905 and 1907 (an example of this first batch is no. 2807, which is currently being overhauled at Toddington by Cotswold Steam Preservation Ltd and is expected to steam in late 2009 or early 2010).

These locomotives were the most powerful of their day and so trouble-free were they that, with only relatively minor changes, continued in production on and off until the mid-1940's. 

It quickly became clear, however, that there was also a need for very powerful tank locomotives capable of handling heavy mineral trains, particularly in South Wales, over relatively short distances. A 2-8-0 tank locomotive was designed and the prototype, No 4201, appeared in 1910. This was the first and only 2-8-0 tank locomotive class ever to run in the UK. It shared many features with the larger 2800 class including thinner flanges on the middle pairs of driving wheels and spherical joints on the coupling rods to allow maximum flexibility when negotiating curves. With various improvements, this design continued to be built until 1940. No 4247 was completed in 1916.

It is a testament to sound Great Western design and engineering expertise that many of both the 2800 and 4200 classes survived to the end of steam.

A new but short-lived era for steam

In 1948, the railways were nationalised and British Railways set about designing a number of modern, standard classes of steam locomotive. The objective was both to replace many ageing classes that were well past their best and introduce standardisation to simplify maintenance and allow interchangeability of parts - a highly successful concept pioneered by the Great Western Railway.

The last British Railways design, and the most powerful freight locomotive produced in the UK, was the 9F class 2-10-0. It was introduced in 1954 and boasted the highest tractive effort of any UK steam locomotive design. It benefited from larger driving wheels than previous heavy freight designs and this meant the locomotives were capable of handling heavy trains at high speed.

The class also found themselves handling passenger trains, particularly over the steeply-graded Somerset and Dorset line between Bournemouth and Bath. Indeed, one member of the class is credited with achieving a speed of 90 mph when deputising for a failed locomotive on the east coast main line.

The 9Fs were very successful and well liked by footplate crews. They were both free-running and economical and capable of some prodigious performances. Production was shared between Crewe and Swindon. David Shepherd's 9F, no 92203, was among the last to be built, emerging from Swindon works in 1959. Just a few months later, sister locomotive no. 92220 'Evening Star' became the very last member of the class and the very last steam locomotive to be built for main line use in Great Britain.

Already, the 'modernisation plan' was under way and diesel and electric traction was even then beginning to displace steam in some parts of the country. In all, 251 9F's were built and could be found throughout the UK. Most saw much less than ten years' service before being withdrawn and scrapped - long before their useful life was over.

It is highly appropriate that Swindon works - which pioneered modern heavy freight locomotive design with no 97 and then the tank version, no 4200 - should build the very last of a long line of powerful steam locomotives to keep Britain's industries moving.

Quickly steam declined and, in 1968, it was all over. David Shepherd bought no. 92203 straight out of British Railways service and he immediately named it 'Black Prince'. By then, locomotives such as 4247, 2807 and 3822 were already quietly rusting away at a scrapyard in South Wales.

* A reference to the wheel arrangement. Locomotives are described in general terms by the number of leading wheels, driving wheels and trailing wheels they have. '2-8-0' indicates that the locomotive has two leading or 'pony' wheels, eight driving or 'coupled' wheels and no trailing wheels. 'T' after a wheel arrangement description (such as 2-8-0T) indicates a tank locomotive (it doesn't have a tender). Locomotives are sometimes described as 'eight-coupled' or 'ten-coupled' design - in other words, they have eight or ten driving wheels.