Restoration of No. 2807 by Cotswold Steam Preservation started on its rescue from Woodhams scrap yard at Barry in 1981. The process has been long and at times painful, but it is now possible to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Restoration has gathered pace over the last few years, and has centred on three main objectives:
Considerable progress has been made on all of these.
Work on the chassis has involved:
Progress on the boiler has included:
Progress on the tender has included:
| Feb 2006 | Boiler to Llangollen |
| Chassis and tender work continues at Toddington | |
| Early 2007 | Tender to Llangollen and completed to running condition |
| Jan 2009 | Llangollen complete firebox repairs and stay replacement |
| Apr 2009 | Llangollen complete boiler barrel repairs and internals |
| May 2009 | Llangollen fit front tube plate and re-tube boiler |
| June 2009 | Chassis completed at Toddington |
| July 2009 | Move chassis and remaining boiler parts to Llangollen |
| October 2009 | Boiler hydraulic test |
| November 2009 | Boiler steam test |
| Re-unite chassis and boiler | |
| December 2009 | Complete backhead pipework and test, tender completed |
| Jan / Feb 2010 | Test running at Llangollen |
| March 2010 | Move loco to Toddington, test running |
| April 2010 | Running on G.W.R. |
When complete and steaming, No. 2807 will share in the duties at The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway. The railway runs between Cheltenham and Toddington via Winchcombe, all in Gloucestershire. The line is ten miles in length, giving larger locomotives a sensible length of run. The next target for the railway is an extension to Broadway, Worcestershire.
Ironically, steam freight engines are very suitable for passenger services on preserved heritage railways. Preserved railways typically have a speed limit of around 25 miles per hour. Express passenger locomotives are designed for speeds much higher than this and are not so comfortable at these low speeds. Freight engines on the other hand are designed to run at lower speeds hauling heavy trains. For this reason they tend to be more at home at preserved railway speeds.
They can also be used for freight charters where they are of course doing the job for which they were designed, hauling freight trains at moderate speed.