Nomadic 9f, its trials and tribulations with hopes for the future.

 

Nomadic ‘9F’

No. 92219 owes its preservation to one of its classmates – No. 92214. The former Cardiff Canton, Banbury, Ebbw Junction and Severn Tunnel Junction-allocated ‘Spaceship’ had been rescued from Barry five years earlier, in December 1980, by the 9F Locomotive Preservation Trust (later the 9F Locomotive Charitable Trust Company), and was taken to Peak Rail’s site at Buxton for restoration. The organisation purchased No. 92219 as a source of spares, so the 1960-built locomotive joined its 1959-built classmate at Buxton.

Martyn Ashworth – a former Peak Rail director, who was also the project manager that rebuilt the railway as well as the preserved line’s Chief Mechanical Engineer – picks up the story. “In a nutshell, we had been advised by ‘experts’ that the boiler on 92214 was not that good and it would need loads of heavy repair work doing – especially around the fire hole door ring area.

“Knowing what we do now, we would never have bought 92219 but back then it was a very different matter, and the logical thing was to buy 92219 and swap the boilers over, as 92219 was deemed to have a very good boiler. In the event, when 92214 went to Butterley after the closure of Buxton in 1990 (I then left and became the CME at Swanage), it was realised that her boiler was not that bad after all, and the firebox repairs were duly carried out and she was returned to steam.”

Thus, No. 92214 steamed for the first time since August 1965 at the Midland Railway – Butterley in July 2003, while No. 92219, which had accompanied its classmate to Swanwick Junction in 1991, continued to slumber.

By the middle of 2010, after seven years in traffic, it was becoming clear that No. 92214’s original BR superheater elements were reaching the end of their useful lives, and major work was required. At the same time, the group had already decided to put the ‘9F’ on the market owing to several factors, including fewer volunteers, insufficient earnings to help cover the cost of the impending ‘ten-year’ overhaul, and the advancing age profile of its support team, as well as the expected cost and complexities of the necessary repairs to both the superheater elements and the locomotive’s wheelsets.

Coincidentally, the group received an enquiry from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway about hiring the ‘9F’ to alleviate a motive power shortage. While the railway declined an offer to acquire No. 92214, one of its senior drivers – Stuart Whitter – expressed an interest, and duly purchased the 2-10-0 in July 2010. No. 92219 was offered to Whitter as part of the deal, but this was declined, so the trust announced in spring 2012 that the penultimate ‘9F’ was also up for sale.

 

A new hope

The future for the engine looked rather bleak, with rumours circulating that the remains could be cut up, but it was on a trip to Swanwick that Graham Harris, looking for spares for another project, saw it sitting in a siding for the first time. Within a few weeks, he had placed a bid with the trust, which was accepted, and he took ownership of No. 92219 at the end of 2012.

As Graham was volunteering for the Stainmore Railway at the time, he was able to base the engine at Kirkby Stephen East, where it arrived towards the end of 2012. It was to remain there until 2014, when Graham moved all his interests to the Wensleydale Railway.

Since purchasing No. 92219, Graham has put much effort into acquiring missing parts, either buying existing components or having new items made, with the result that little remains to be sourced in order to complete the restoration of the locomotive itself.

However, restoration progress was painfully slow and as a result, Graham was given six months’ notice to remove both No. 92219 and his collection of diesel locomotives from the railway. So, in December 2020, No. 92219 was moved to a secure compound at Tebay to hopefully concentrate on the task but, says Graham: “It became obvious that I needed an experienced partner to be involved.”

“I had been more than impressed with the restoration of ‘Black Five’ No. 5025 at the Strathspey Railway and so I approached them to initially store the engine with the hope that restoration could then commence.”

An approach was made to the Strathspey Railway early in 2023 and, after a brief consultation, No. 92219 moved into store at Boat of Garten in May that year. The engine finally moved to Aviemore locomotive shed on January 31 2024 when preparatory work began on its long-overdue restoration. Work on No. 92219 will begin in earnest once Ivatt ‘2MT’ No. 46464 – the restoration of which is now in its final stage at Aviemore – is complete.

 

Tender considerations

The biggest single missing component from No. 92219 is its tender, the original having been sold to Duport Ltd in around 1969 as an ingot carrier. Therefore, creating a new tender is something which has been given some considerable thought.

The ‘9Fs’ were paired with five different tender types of tender, with No. 92219 being attached to a BR1G. The 5,000-gallon BR1Gs had an inset coal bunker, ideal for running tender-first in preservation.

Original drawings exist for the BR1G, so constructing a new tank is down to finding a suitable fabrication company with the facility and expertise to accomplish this; luckily, one such company is local to the Strathspey and has already proved itself highly competent.

The tender frames will be outsourced, laser cut with stretchers and dragboxes fabricated at Aviemore. The whole assembly will then be hot-riveted on-site, something at which the Strathspey excels.

New tender wheelsets present a problem, but there are a few options. All the original ‘9F’ tenders ran on 3ft 3½in diameter wheels with roller-bearing axleboxes. One possibility would be wheelsets from a Class 40 diesel electric locomotive, which would be available complete with ‘boxes. The downside of this option is that the wheels are 3ft 9in in diameter with new tyres, so the frames would need to be modified to accommodate this.

Another alternative is to press the Class 40 wheels off the axles and replace them with modern monobloc wheels nearer to the desirable 3ft 3½in, but could this expense be justified? Probably not.

Patterns for horn guides to suit will have to be sourced or made, and from which new horns will be cast in 14-ton iron and machined on site. New springs will be made by one of the usual suppliers, while a number of components for the tender brake gear will need to be fabricated or cast. The team at Aviemore possesses the skills and has the equipment to form pipework up to three inches in diameter, so this will be done on-site.

While a new tender is the preferred option at the moment, it may well be that an opportunity to acquire one from elsewhere might appear in the future. 

 

Component compendium

The boiler of any steam locomotive is most likely to be an area of concern in an engine which has lain dormant and ravaged by the elements for 60-odd years.

The first course of action following No. 92219’s arrival was to thoroughly examine its boiler and get it professionally inspected with a full report of its condition.

Good news – the copper firebox is in excellent condition with just a few side stays to replace; however all crown stays will be renewed as will some stay nuts. The steel outer firebox is good with a small amount of building-up required, although the foundation ring will need to be re-riveted. The barrel sections are quite serviceable except for a small section of the dry extension (part of the front boiler barrel section which protrudes beyond the front tubeplate, and is constantly subject to accumulations of corrosive dust and ash) which was expected, and will be replaced by a suitably rolled section professionally welded in place. A new front tubeplate has been sourced which, together with a set of new tubes, will complete the majority of the work needed to allow the boiler to be hydraulically and steam tested.

A new smokebox will be rolled which, together with a new door ring and a new ashpan, will complete the boiler assembly. A set of new/serviceable superheat elements are also to hand.  New boiler cladding and its supporting framework will be made, as will all of the access platework.

Once the boiler is out of the frames, they can be lifted clear of the wheelsets, which will be sent to a contractor for turning and reprofiling. Some of the tyres have hollow wear in places, indicative of slipping under heavy load. Slippage due to regulator problems was not unknown on the ‘9Fs’ and modifications as construction progressed never entirely solved the problem. However, No. 92219’s driving wheelset tyres probably have three turnings left on them.

Luckily, the crank journals (good stuff, Denso tape) have been protected and may prove quite serviceable with hand polishing. The driving axlebox keep plates are missing and new ones will have to be cast and machined. The axleboxes will be fitted with shimmed manganese liners for ease of adjustment. All plain bearings will be white-metalled and machined at Aviemore.

The main frames of the engine are in good condition thanks to a copious coating of oil and grease in the past, but new stretchers and front buffer beam will have to be fabricated.

There is some slight pitting of the power and valve cylinder liner bores, which will hopefully machine out in-situ. Most of the missing motion components are also in hand, except both connecting rods, two return cranks and eccentric rods. New items will be made if the originals fail to come to light.

In the cab, most of the backhead fittings have been sourced except the manifold. Other items yet be obtained are drain cocks, vacuum ejector, safety valves and snifting valves.

All the engine pipework will be renewed as a matter of course. Provision for steam heating will be made at the front buffer beam so the locomotive can haul trains tender-first.

If anyone has, or knows of, missing items, please contact the Aviemore shed foreman Nathan Lightowler, via nathan.lightowler@strathspeyrailway.co.uk

Restoration of No. 92219 will be a costly business, and any financial help would be welcome and appreciated.