the british rail class 09 is a class of 0-6-0 diesel locomotive designed primarily for shunting but also short distance freight trips along branch lines. for this reason, though similar to the existing class 08 shunting locomotives, class 09s were re-geared to give a maximum top speed of 27.5 mph (44 km/h) at the expense of a lower tractive effort. they originally operated in the southern region of british railways, though following privatisation in 1997 they have been distributed much farther afield.