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Friday, 14 November 2014

BR 9F 92214 'Cock O' The North'

No.92214 was built at Swindon in October, 1959 and after a few weeks at Cardiff Canton it was allocated, in November, to Banbury where it was used to haul the heavy ironstone trains from the Oxfordshire quarries to the steel works in South Wales.
 
 
In November, 1961 No.92214 was transferred to Newport (Ebbw Junction) to haul coal and mineral traffic in the South Wales area. In the summer of 1964 it was allocated to Bath Green Park to help with the holiday excursions over the Somerset & Dorset. It is believed that No.92214 was the last 9F to operate over the line from Bath to Bournemouth. After that it went to Severn Tunnel Junction from where it was withdrawn in August, 1965, less than six years after it was built. In December, 1980 it went to the Peak Railway Society at Buxton to start it life in preservation.

 
In 2010 No.92214 moved to  the North Yorkshire Moors Railway and worked extensively over the summer period. It was then purchased by PV Premier Ltd, a Grosmont based company owned by Stuart Whitter who once was a driver on the GCR. After an extensive winter maintenance programme No.92214 returned to traffic in the summer of 2011. The following winter more extensive repair and maintenance was carried out and the locomotive again returned to traffic for the summer of 2012. A ten year boiler overhaul was completed over 2012/13 and the locomotive passed an insurance test on 29th June, 2013 and gained a full ten year boiler ticket. Because of the amount of passenger work that the locomotive had undertaken she was finished in BR’s mixed traffic livery and looks magnificent.

 
No.92214 was  named Cock o’ the North at Easter 2011 was in response to the many members of the travelling public who asked if the locomotive had a name. That name has now been removed.

 
Seven locomotives were obtained from Woodham Brothers scrapyard in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. The other two were preserved upon withdrawal, with 92220 Evening Star reserved for the National Collection, and 92203 being purchased direct from BR by the noted artist and conservationist, David Shepherd in 1967.

 
As of 2013, four of the locomotives have not been restored to working order since withdrawal: 92134, 92207, 92219 and 92245. All were stored rusting in the open air for 20 or more years, and had component parts removed. Most have since received at least some cosmetic restoration to prevent them from deteriorating further. However, the 9F was one of the largest locomotives to run on British railways, and the cost of restoration is high.

 
On 27 January 2014 it was announced that 92214 had been personally bought by the GCR chairman, and was to remain there. 92214 appeared at the GCR gala in 'weathered' plain BR black livery, and the 'Cock O' The North' name was removed. 92214 was subsequently repainted into lined BR Brunswick Green as carried by sister loco 92220 'Evening Star'.
 
 

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