Британские паровозы класса 9F: Последние из стандартных

Class of 251 two cylinder 2 10 0 locomotives

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 Withdrawals of the class began in 1964, with the final locomotives being withdrawn from service in 1968, the final year of steam traction on British Railways.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. They were generally thought of as very successful locomotives, O. S. Nock stating "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."

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 15 tons, 10 cwt.

Introduced in January 1954, the class comprised 251 locomotives, of which 53 were constructed at Swindon Works, and 198 at Crewe Works. The locomotives were numbered 92000 92250. 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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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. Currently both Hornby and Bachmann produce models of this class in OO scale, with the cheaper, less detailed Hornby version being part of the budget "Railroad" range. Hornby also released a model of the Thomas & Friends character Murdoch in December 2011. In August 2015, a Franco Crosti boilered variant was introduced into the Hornby RailRoad range. The Bachmann model covers most variations of the class. When announcing an all new 9F model in their 2021 range, Hornby stated that it would be able to recreate almost all detail variations within the class of 251 locomotives, including locomotives fitted with mechanical stokers and those fitted with Westinghouse brake equipment for working the heavy Consett iron ore trains.

In the 1980s Minitrix produced two Ready to Run N scale models of the class. In 2009 Dapol were commissioned to produce an N scale Ready to Run model of 92203 by TMC.

The last design by model engineer Curly Lawrence ("LBSC") was for a live steam 3½ inch gauge model BR 9F Locomotive. The design was unfinished by the time of his death on 4 November 1967. The design was subsequently completed by Martin Evans.

Murdoch from Thomas & Friends is a BR Standard Class 9F locomotive.