Class 04 diesel shunter No. D2280 now sports its 1960s-era livery of BR Green with late crest and wasp stripes after being repainted at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway.

The Drewry 0-6-0 diesel-mechanical shunter is one of the railway’s resident locomotives.

The diesel locomotive department members collaborated to give it a resplendent repaint, which they completed shortly before last month’s ‘Cotswold Festival of Steam’.

Based at the railway’s locomotive sheds at Toddington alongside sister Class 04 No. 11230, D2280 is regularly used on shunting duties by both the diesel and steam locomotive departments.

In its BR days, D2280 was a bit of a wanderlust. After coming out of Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns works on 25th February 1960, it was initially allocated to the Southern Region, spending time at Norwood Junction, Brighton, and Weymouth.

Transferred from there to the Eastern Region, it was allocated to Parkeston Quay, Colchester, and Stratford, before being withdrawn from Colchester on 14th March 1971.

After withdrawal from British Rail, D2280 was sold to the Ford Motor Company at Dagenham Ford Works and remained in active service there until 1996.

Stored at the North Norfolk Railway for several years, D2280 was sold to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway in 2018 and restored to operational condition at Toddington.

Visitors will be able to view the magnificent repaint of D2280 during the railway’s summer diesel gala when it will be on static display on-shed at Toddington.

Class 04 diesel shunters were primarily used for shunting operations in yards and docks and hauling light freight services on branch lines.

They could be seen working across all of the British Railways network, as well as at coal mines with the National Coal Board and power stations with the Central Electricity Generating Board.

Withdrawals began in 1967 and by 1972 all BR examples of the class had been taken out of service. Some examples went on to work in private industry, and over 20 were preserved by heritage railways and private collectors. One of those was scrapped in 2003, but many of those remaining are now either operational or under restoration.

Tickets for the summer Diesel Gala from Friday, 12th to Sunday, 14th July are now available online at www.gwsr.com. The event promises to have up to eight diesel locomotives and a diesel multiple unit operating to an intensive timetable.

Visitors will be able to go behind the scenes in the locomotive and carriage & wagon workshops, there will be plenty of other activities going on at each of the railway’s picturesque period stations. Refreshments will be available at ‘The Cotswold Halt’ and ‘The Halt Bar’ at Toddington Station.