The Class 20 Locomotive Society

The Class 20 Locomotive Society grew out of the kind of practical enthusiasm that has always sustained Britain’s railway preservation movement: a small group of people deciding that a distinctive class of working locomotive deserved a future beyond withdrawal. According to the society’s own history, it was formed in 1981 by Paul Mee and Brian Lees, at a time when the eventual disappearance of BR Class 20s from everyday service could already be imagined, even if it had not fully happened yet. From the outset, the ambition was not simply to admire the type from afar, but to secure one for preservation and build an organisation strong enough to support it over the long term. In its early years, that meant fundraising in traditional enthusiast fashion through membership, donations and sales, while also developing the volunteer base and technical confidence needed to care for a locomotive once one became available. What makes the society’s story especially interesting is that it reflects a wider change in preservation culture: a shift from saving grand express engines alone to recognising the historic value of everyday diesel traction, the machines that carried freight, engineers’ trains and regional traffic through the later British Rail era. The Class 20, with its unmistakable single-cab profile and long, durable working life, was exactly the kind of locomotive that inspired that transition from nostalgia into active conservation.

That long-term vision gradually turned into ownership, restoration and operation. The society’s first locomotive, 20227, was acquired after BR service and became a tangible expression of the founders’ original plan; later, 20205 joined the fleet, broadening the organisation’s ability to preserve not just a single example but a more complete living record of the class in action. Over more than three decades, the society has developed from an enthusiasts’ group with a bold idea into a mature preservation body responsible for the upkeep of two historically important locomotives, combining archival interest with hands-on engineering and regular operation. That evolution matters because it shows how railway preservation organisations survive: not through sentiment alone, but through patient administration, technical labour, fundraising and the steady passing-on of knowledge between generations of supporters. For a website built around locomotive footage, that history provides the real context. The videos are not only records of engines moving on preserved lines or the main line; they are the visible outcome of decades of voluntary commitment, mechanical skill and organisational persistence. Seen in that light, each departure, exhaust beat and passing shot connects back to the society’s development from a pub conversation in 1981 into a durable custodian of the Class 20 legacy.