Evening Star
1960 · BR Standard Class 9F · Work 6 of 1,871
A BR Standard Class 9F heavy freight locomotive carrying a nameplate reading "Evening Star", seen in full side view so that its wheels can be counted: a small pony wheel at the very front, then a row of ten large driving wheels, five on each side, filling the entire length of the locomotive from the smokebox to the cab, one continuous coupling rod joining all five wheels on the visible side, the driving wheels all the same size and close together, two outside cylinders, a copper-capped double chimney, lined green livery, a tender coupled behind, fresh from the works and unweathered, standing outside an erecting shop.
- What it was used for
- British Railways freight work. Built in March 1960 as the last steam locomotive built new for a British state railway — and withdrawn in March 1965. Designed for decades, worked for barely five years.
- What was new
- Nothing about it was new, and that is the point: a mature freight machine built in a year when its replacement had long been decided.