BR Class 04 - D2334 

British Railway Class 04 Diesel-Mechanical 0-6-0​

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The British Railway Class 04 is a class of diesel-mechanical locomotive that was built principle by Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns between 1956 - 1961, a total of 100 out of the 142 were produced. The first 42 locomotives were built be Vulcan Foundry between 1952 - 1956.

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The class was built for light duties where a larger locomotive were not needed, they were mainly assigned to shunting duties at depots and as station pilots. As British Railway started to introduce more multiple units that could be driven from both ends the demand for shunting locomotives started to diminish and so BR started to withdraw the class with many being sold on to private industry. Out of the 142 that were produced 122 were scrapped, leaving 20 examples of the class in preservation. 

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D2334

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D2334 was released from Drewry Car Co Ltd on 25th July 1961 and was allocated to Heaton (52B). Over the course of its life it was transferred to various depots including Percy Main, Gateshead & Darlington where it was then withdrawn in July 1968. After its withdrawal from BR it was sold to the National Coal Board who initially sent the locomotive to Manvers Main Colliery in South Yorkshire. During its time with the National Coal Board it work in various collieries such as Wath, Thurcroft and finally Maltby, before being sold into preservation in 1985. The locomotive arrived at the Mid-Norfolk Railway in January 2017. 

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