Evening Star (locomotive)

BR Standard Class 9F 92220 Evening Star

92220 Evening Star at Bolton Percy, 14 August 1983

Type and origin Power type Steam Designer R.A. Riddles Builder Swindon Works Build date March 1960

Specifications Configuration 2-10-0 UIC class 1′E h2 Gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) Wheel diameter 5 ft 0 in (1.524 m) Length 66 ft 2 in (20.17 m) overall Loco weight 86 long tons 14 cwt (194,200 lb or 88.1 t) Tender type BR1G Fuel capacity 9 long tons 0 cwt (20,200 lb or 9.1 t) Water cap 4,725 imp gal (21,480 l; 5,674 US gal) Boiler pressure 250 lbf/in2 (1.72 MPa) Cylinders Two, outside Cylinder size 20 in × 28 in (508 mm × 711 mm)

Performance figures Tractive effort 39,667 lbf (176.45 kN)

Career Operators British Railways Power class 9F Numbers 92220 Locale Western Region of British Railways Withdrawn March 1965 Current owner National Collection

BR standard class 9F number 92220 Evening Star is a preserved British steam locomotive completed in 1960. It was the last steam locomotive to be built by British Railways. It holds the distinction of being the only British main line steam locomotive earmarked for preservation from the date of construction. It was the 999th locomotive of the whole British Railways Standard range.

Evening Star was built at Swindon railway works in 1960. Though the last to be built, it was not the last 9F numerically as Crewe Works had already completed engines with higher numbers. It was equipped with a BR1G-type tender and given BR Brunswick green livery, normally reserved for passenger locomotives, and was completed with a copper-capped double chimney. All other members of the class of heavy freight locomotives were painted unlined black.

92220 was the only Class 9F to be named (and liveried in lined passenger express brunswick green) when running with BR, although other 9Fs have subsequently been named in preservation.

The name Evening Star was chosen following a competition run in 1959-60 by the BR Western Region Staff Magazine. There were three competition winners, Driver T.M. Phillips (Aberystwyth), Boilermaker J.S. Sathi (Old Oak Common) and F.L. Pugh (Paddington), who had all suggested Evening Star.

A special commemorative plate was affixed below the nameplate on the smoke deflectors. The commemorative plate reads:

No. 92220 built at Swindon
March 1960
The last steam locomotive for British Railways
Named at Swindon on March 18, 1960 by
K.W.C. Grand, Esq
Member of the British Transport Commission

The wooden patterns for this commemorative plate and the engine's name plate were both carved by pattern maker Fred Marsh.

The naming ceremony took place on 18 March 1960 at the Swindon Works, where the locomotive was built. A speech was given by R.F. Hanks, Chairman of the Western Area Board of British Transport Commission:

But it is also a very great day for Swindon, and, to my friends from other Regions and from the B.T.C., I trust I shall not be considered parochial when I say that it is a proud day for Great Western men everywhere who will find much satisfaction, since there had to be a "last one" that it should fall to the lot of Swindon to see the job through. [..] I am sure it has been truly said that no other product of man’s mind has ever exercised such a compelling hold upon the public’s imagination as the steam locomotive. No other machine, in its day, has been a more faithful friend to mankind and has contributed more to the cause of industrial prosperity in this, the land of its birth, and throughout the world.