David Shepherd (RIP) and his locomotives.

I have always wondered, when David Shepherd decided to purchase two locomotives straight from BR in the late '60s, was he specifically after a 9F and a Std 4 4-6-0, or did he choose those two as they were fairly new and in good condition? I wonder what choice of classes he had?

(I would have gone for a Britannia and a K3 or B1 if any had been available lol).

 

Not sure of the reasons why he bought what classes he did but I do recall him once saying in a documentary he said he wanted to buy 2 steam loco's and when asked why 2? His reply was 'well 2's more fun than 1!'

 

I remember a story in an autobiography of his. When he came to collect the Std 4 (from Crewe, I think), the tender was piled high with coal. He was advised cryptically to 'dig carefully'. It turned out the tender was loaded up with brass castings and spare parts, hidden under a thin layer of coal..................
Andy

 

Perhaps he reckoned the 9F would be more useful for preserved lines, and also wouldn't slip its centre driving wheels on their axle...

 

Ah, but if he had gone after the right Britannia Class loco he would not have had that worry.

 

Not sure where 75029 came from, but there's a great account of the delivery from Crewe of 92203 in Bert Stewart's book 'On the right lines' BS offered DS the chance to drive 92203 which DS declined saying he didn't know the road. Bert then offered the regulator to Bob Denith (divisional superintendent LMR Stoke) who accepted and was still in the seat at Derby when a footplate inspector boarded and asked BS who he driver was 'I am' said BS 'then who's he then?' asked the FI BS shrugged his shoulders and said 'I dunno, you best ask him' so the FI tapped BD and asked BD who he was. Mr Denith produced his ID card... Cue a slight red face from the FI!

 

@std tank why so? I thought all 7MTs did that, that it was a fundamental design weakness.

 

70040 to 70049 were fitted with plain bearings on all driving wheels from new, rather than roller bearings. The axles reverted to normal diameters, rather than the reduced diameters to accommodate the roller bearings. The ten locos never had any problems with wheel/axle movement.
Incidentally, it was not always the centre drivers that moved on the other members of the Class and not all the roller bearing fitted locos were affected.

 

Why would a Brit be better? Because it's big, green and got nameplates?

Maybe David Shepherd looked further than the ABC books!

 

The story I recall, from an East Somerset Railway guidebook written by David Shepherd, was that he began buying locos almost on impulse after sales of his wildlife paintings took off and he suddenly found he could afford it. He just wanted to save them from scrapping.
After buying 75029 he sold some more paintings and one day found himself on the phone to his BR contact saying something like "get me a 9F as well - the best available".

 

I have to say that a 9F would appeal to me more than a Brit, if I were in the fortunate position of having to decide between the two. I can't really say why.

 

Wasn't the 9F the most powerful locomotive built by BR? And I guess with David Shepherd's love of big powerful things it makes sense.

 

Were any of those available to be purchased when Mr Shepherd was loco shopping?

 

Were I being a real pedant, I'd point out that TE is a measure of force, not power

Tom

 

But as a pedant you shouldn't confuse tractive effort with power, an unfortunately common mistake.
Tractive effort is but a force, whereas power is the rate of doing work, the product of tractive effort and speed, measured in HP.
The P2 trust claim their loco will be the most powerful, but this is not yet proven, there's a good argument that the Duchesses were the most powerful.