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|wheels = 4-6-2
|rating = BR: 8P6F
|status = OperationalNon-operational, on static display
|locono = 60009
|othernos = LNER 4488, LNER 9
60009 first arrived on the SVR on 24 February 1989 for a contract heavy overhaul.<ref>SVR News 92</ref> This was completed in just under a year with the locomotive, temporarily renamed 'Osprey', making test trips on the SVR on 17-18 February 1990.<ref>SVR News 95</ref> Following this overhaul, 60009 began to operate main line rail tours throughout the United Kingdom.<ref name=Wikipedia/> She returned to the SVR for minor repairs on 28 December 1991, having accumulated 25,000 miles since the overhaul and reverted to 'Union of South Africa'. During this visit she took part in the 'Mince Pie Specials' and the Spring Steam Gala, and also fitted in a return trip to Scotland before departing on 24 April 1992.<ref>SVR News 101/102</ref>
In summer 1995, SVR News described the locomotive for the first time as part of the SVR 'home fleet', referring to a forthcoming return for that year's Autumn Steam Gala.<ref>SVR News 115</ref> Following further mechanical attention, including welding a steel patch insert into the top of the driver's side back plate to repair a deep fracture, the locomotive again returned to the main line duty. An early 1996 rail tour was notable a high speed pass through the Kidderminster main line station with 12 coaches in tow,<ref>SVR News 118</ref> while later that year the locomotive unfortunately set light to a length of the Settle and Carlisle line, requiring a diesel pilot for the rest of the trip and subsequent attention to the spark arrestor.<ref>SVR News 119/120</ref> Further main line work followed, although in December 1996 [[42968]] notably deputised for 60009 on a Crewe to Carlisle Cumbrian Mountain Express.
1997 marked the end of 60009's 7 year 'main line ticket' and she returned to the SVR in January of that year, spending the summer in service as a 'home' locomotive while awaiting another contract overhaul to return her to main line standard.<ref>SVR News 122/125</ref> This began in spring 1998<ref>SVR News 126</ref> but took considerably longer than the first overhaul, mainly due to problems with the rest of the SVR's fleet which culminated in the [[Severn Valley Railway Timeline 2000-2009#2000|2000 'boiler crisis']]. 60009 was eventually returned to steam in Summer 2001.<ref>SVR News 137</ref> Resuming her main line career, in February 2002 60009 became the first A4 to work over the South Devon Banks since 60033 'Seagull' in the 1948 locomotive exchanges.<ref>SVR News 139</ref> Further appearances on the SVR included the Autumn Steam Galas in 2002 and 2004.<ref>SVR News 141/144</ref> Summer 2005 was mostly spent in Bridgnorth Works for a valve and piston repair, replacement of small boiler tubes and finally the inspection and finally re-certification of the middle big end following the failure of a similar locomotive.<ref>SVR News 151</ref>
Late summer 2006 saw 60009 move to Crewe to be fitted with OTMR equipment, after which owner John Cameron expressed the wish to base the locomotive again at Thornton Depot near his Fife home,<ref>SVR News 155</ref> where she would join his other locomotive [[61994 The Great Marquess]].
In 2017 it was announced she that 60009 would be withdrawn from active service at the end of the existing boiler ticket and from 2019 be housed permanently in a new 'Farming and Railway Visiting Centre' at Balbuthie, St Monans with [[61994 The Great Marquess]].<ref>Steam Railway Magazine 27 January 2017</ref> Planning consent was refused and a revised application, excluding the railway aspect, was agreed in November 2019.<ref>[https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/fife/1020904/east-neuk-farm-visitor-centre-given-go-ahead-but-without-the-locomotives-previously-proposed/ 'East Neuk farm visitor centre given go-ahead but without the locomotives previously proposed', The courier.co.uk, 15 November 2019] (Retrieved 7 January 2020)</ref> After ending main line service, 60009 continued to work at the East Lancashire Railway until being withdrawn in October 2021 with boiler problems, some three months before the planned end of ticket. The locomotive was moved into the Bury Transport Museum as a static exhibit in May 2022. Planning permission for 60009 & 61994 to be housed inside an existing building at Balbuthie was granted in October 2022. 60009 achieved several hundred railtours in preservation, and details of these may be found on dedicated railtour sites such as [http://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/trf/trfindex.htm Six Bells Junction] and [http://www.uksteam.info/tours/index.htm UK Steam].
==See also==
