Keith Bulmer

Chair

To help fulfill the Class 56 Group’s main aim of preserving a Class 56 for future generations to enjoy, fund raising started almost immediately, and in November 2005 all the hard work involved in fund raising came to fruition, when the group saved its first locomotive for preservation, namely 56040 “Oystermouth”. Whilst it had taken the group a long time to achieve this aim, when 56040 “Oystermouth” arrived at its new home at Dereham on the Mid Norfolk Railway on Tuesday 27th June 2006, it was the fitting culmination to nearly 14 years of hard work.

For some groups that would have been enough, but in February 2011 the Class 56 Group went one stage further and saved 56301 (the former 56045), which was (and still is) certified for use on the national mainline network. Unfortunately, the purchase of 56301 came with a “bittersweet pill to swallow”, in that to be able to afford to purchase 56301, the group would have to sacrifice 56040 to the scrap man!!