Next Saturday, 14th September, it will be exactly 30 years since Class 37 No. D6732 became the first of its class to work in preservation when it arrived at the North Norfolk Railway, otherwise known as the Poppy Line.

Since then, D6732 has been a familiar sight on the line, regularly hauling trains between Sheringham and Holt.

To mark the 30th anniversary, on 14th September D6732 will perform five special round trips of the line.

In the early 1990s, a small group of East Anglian railway enthusiasts set about preserving a member of the locomotive class that had been the staple power of the area’s passenger services.

By then, D6732 had been renumbered as 37032 and had been withdrawn from service with a failed main generator, but was otherwise substantially complete.

The group submitted a tender to purchase the locomotive, which was accepted, and at the end of June 1994, the group became the proud owners of the Class 37.

The group reached an agreement with the North Norfolk Railway that D6732 could be moved to Weybourne engine shed where work could take place to restore it to running condition, although the group’s members couldn’t work full time on the locomotive because of employment commitments.

In summer of 1996 the locomotive was finally ready for testing and hauled its first passenger train on 31st August 1996 became a regular performer on the line.

A year later, it was repainted in the green livery more suited to its heritage and reverted to its original number of D6732.

At the end of the 2005 season, D6732 was withdrawn from service for an extensive overhaul. Eight years later, in June 2013, it returned to service on the Poppy Line restored to as near as possible the condition as it was in when it first entered main line service with British Railways at Hull Dairycoates shed on 9th March 1962, and special celebrations were held to celebrate its 60th birthday in 2022.

On Saturday, 14th September, D6732 will be rostered to operate services between Sheringham and Holt on the North Norfolk Railway alongside heritage steam locomotives to celebrate 30 years since it first arrived on the line.

Diesel-hauled services will depart from Holt at 10.20, 12.00, 13.50, 15.25, and 16.50, and return from Sheringham at 11.00, 12.45, 14.35 and 16.10. Steam-hauled services will depart from Holt at 11.05, 12.50, 14.40, and 16.15, and depart from Sheringham at 10.15, 11.55, 13.45, and 15.30.

Full details of services and further information can be found by clicking here.