This locomotive represents the success of a Modernisation Plan pilot scheme design. Under that scheme three different Type 1 (up to 1000 BHP) designs were produced, by the private builders Clayton, North British Locomotive and English Electric. The latter were by far the most successful, and were a development from prototypes built in the 1930s by the London, Midland & Scottish Railway. Uniquely amongst British main-line diesels, they have a cab at only one end. Those in Scotland spent most of their time on freight working. Some remained in use until the early 1990s.
D8020 thus represents a class that did reliable work in Scotland over many years, although this particular locomotive spent most of its working life in England, with periods in Scotland including 6 months in 1967 when it was allocated to Polmadie in Glasgow, overlapping with the very end of steam on British Railways. In 2006, the locomotive visited Darlington Railway Museum in its home town.
Acquired with the support of the National Fund for Acquisitions.
