20 069 arriving at County School, MNR. 1993.
With the mass withdrawal of class 20's in the late 1980's and early 90's it was inevitable that some of the once 228 strong class would survive into preservation or further employment in industrial use. At least 22 examples can now be considered to be "preserved" although that doesn't always guarantee a safe secure future.
Here resplendent in BR blue 20 069 stops the "traffic" at County School Level Crossing on the then isolated northern section of the Mid Norfolk Railway. The locos last BR depot allocation was Thornaby on Teesside but it was withdrawn from there on 20/5/91. The Type 1 Association bought it a few months later in November 1991 and paid for it to go to MC Metals Ltd at Springburn in Glasgow who had a licence to remove insulating asbestos. The preservation group at the same time reached an agreement with RFS Industries Ltd to hire the loco to them for use on construction trains at the Channel Tunnel Terminal in Cheriton thus bringing in welcome revenue for the group although this never came to fruition possibly because of the timescale involved in ridding the loco of asbestos. Instead on completion of its decontamination it went to its new home on the Mid Norfolk Railway in June 1992.
20 069 arriving at County School, MNR. 1993.
With the mass withdrawal of class 20's in the late 1980's and early 90's it was inevitable that some of the once 228 strong class would survive into preservation or further employment in industrial use. At least 22 examples can now be considered to be "preserved" although that doesn't always guarantee a safe secure future.
Here resplendent in BR blue 20 069 stops the "traffic" at County School Level Crossing on the then isolated northern section of the Mid Norfolk Railway. The locos last BR depot allocation was Thornaby on Teesside but it was withdrawn from there on 20/5/91. The Type 1 Association bought it a few months later in November 1991 and paid for it to go to MC Metals Ltd at Springburn in Glasgow who had a licence to remove insulating asbestos. The preservation group at the same time reached an agreement with RFS Industries Ltd to hire the loco to them for use on construction trains at the Channel Tunnel Terminal in Cheriton thus bringing in welcome revenue for the group although this never came to fruition possibly because of the timescale involved in ridding the loco of asbestos. Instead on completion of its decontamination it went to its new home on the Mid Norfolk Railway in June 1992.