Class 15 Preservation Society

10/02/26 D5705 Photo Charter:
On Friday 6th February, D5705 was involved in it's very first photo charter. It was run by Liam Barnes in combination with the East Lancashire Railway as a night photoshoot based in and around Bury Bolton Street.

Above: Full Consist © Chris Gee

D5705 was paired with a conflat wagon, four box vans, a CCT and the LMS Stove-R to give the impression of a loaded freight train. The icing on the cake was the provision of a replica CONDOR headboard provided by Andrew Jeffrey of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. The working team were able to provide sufficient electrical power to illuminate the indicator lights and cab lights in the north-end cab and it really gave the impression of a working loco.

Above: Condor moment © Liam Barnes

Above: D5705 and D5054 at Bury © Liam Barnes

The charter began with shots of the loco parked in Platform 3 on the railway, before being joined by Class 24 D5054 (guised as D5053) and brakevan on Platform 2 and Class 08 '13594' being used to shunt the Co-Bo. Both trains were then moved south to Bury South signalbox and finally the 'CONDOR' was posed underneath the impressive signal gantry at the south end of Bury Bolton Street to recreate the iconic 1960 Night Freight railway posted by Terence Cuneo.

Above: Night Freight © Tom McAtee / T Cuneo

A total of 25 photographers attended the event and the online presence and interest of the loco, particularly on Facebook since the event has been incredible with the Class 15 Preservation Society Facebook page receiving 125,000 views between Friday evening and Monday morning.

07/02/26 Sales News:
We are pleased to release the second badge item for sale on our website, the BTH Type 1/Class 15 pin badge available to purchase on our website shop page. This is the second of twelve badge designs to be sold throughout 2026. As with the first badge, this will be sold on the 7th of the month at 7pm. In the case of this badge, that's Saturday 7th February, the same day as the East Lancashire Railway Winter Warmer diesel running day where our other loco, D5705, will be in view at Bury Bolton Street.

21/01/26 Restoration News:
A summary update for D5705 is here. If you wish to lend a hand and volunteer on either loco please contact Rob Mason

08/01/26 D5705 Update:
The Class 15 Preservation Society are pleased to release the first merchandise item for sale on our website, the Metropolitan Vickers Co-Bo pin badge available to purchase on our website shop here

Throughout 2026, the Society will be releasing a range of limited edition merchandise that will be released throughout the year. Each item has been designed to showcase the two locomotive the society are the custodians of and will include a series of pin badges, clothing among other merchandise items.

This line of merchandise will be sold to invaluably help with the fundraising of the two locomotives and each item will be specific to each locomotive and all profits from each item will be put towards the restoration of the related locomotive.

The first item available is the Co-Bo pin badge which has been chosen to help support the ongoing fundraising of the Co-Bo Appeal aiming to raise £16,680+VAT to cover the initial quoted work required on the HSTVEE8 power unit of D5705.

In addition to the merchandise sold via the shop, you can also support the restorations of the locomotives by financially contributing via the following means:

To this end a fundraiser has been set up and you can donate either by bank transfer;

Sort Code 09-06-66
Acc Number 42342109
Class 15 Preservation Society
Ref: COBO ENGINE

or via this paypal link

More info is available on the C15PS facebook page

04/01/26 Restoration News:
On Christmas Eve D8233 was moved onto the jacks on Road 2 in Baron Street Works. It has now been lifted and the temporary DMU bogies have been removed from under the loco. With the underside of the loco now fully accessible and exposed, the final areas of the underbody prepping and painting, as well as the remaining air pipe system restoration can be completed. The bogies of the loco are very close to being completely restored now and will soon be ready to move back under the locomotive hopefully the first quarter of 2026.

Subject to other operational requirements, we hope that D8233 will remain on the jacks throughout January and be presented in this state at the East Lancashire Railway Open House event on the 24-25th January 2026. It will be a great opportunity to see the locomotive, as well as D5705. Details are here

11/09/25 D5705 Update:
At the end of 2021 the Crossley V8 was sent off to Gen Elec located in Louth, Lincolnshire for restoration and following a period of inactivity due to a backlog of other projects, work has begun on the restoration and they have now provided an update on the progress of the work as well as providing a list of what remains to be completed including a quoted cost of £16,680.00 + VAT.

To this end a fundraiser has been set up and you can donate either by bank transfer;

Sort Code 09-06-66
Acc Number 42342109
Class 15 Preservation Society
Ref: COBO ENGINE

or via this paypal link

More info is available on the C15PS facebook page

10/09/25 Society News:
The societies AGM will be on Saturday 8th November at 1300 - all members are welcome. The venue is the The Meeting Room @Tate Towers, Baron Street Locomotive Works, Bury. BL9 0TY. Download info and agenda here

31/08/25 D8233 turns 65 today!
On 31st August 1960, D8233 entered traffic for the first time as the 34th member of the class to roll out of the factory and it did so a total of 2 years, 9 months and 21 days after D8200 first ran as a British Rail locomotive.

D8233 ran for less than 9 years on British Railways before being withdrawn in February 1969 and was later one of the four locos to avoid the scrap line and was converted to carriage heating locomotives at BREL Doncaster Works for use with the Departmental Division. During this time, the traction motors were disconnected among several other adaptations and the locos were used as static units purely for carriage heating purposes and a lack of works attention during those 10 years of departmental work had taken its toll on the loco.

After the loco become surplus to requirements, it was stored in Healey Mills yard and in 1984, it was saved from any scrapper's torch and it entered preservation as the only remaining member of the class.

41 years later, our dedicated team of volunteers continue the mammoth task of restoring this now unique locomotive back to running order and with thanks to ongoing donations from members of the society and other kind donations coming in from the railway world, the restoration can continue to progress.

Every single donation to the society is invaluable, whether it be a monetary donation or time donated through volunteering, so please do consider helping out the society and the restoration of this locomotive in any way you can. Details here

15/06/25 Restoration News:
An update for D8233 is here. If you wish to lend a hand and volunteer on either loco please contact Rob Mason

Click here to visit the news archive

D8233 WILL RUN AGAIN!

Thanks to an intake of new members from the "Project D8233" group, The Class 15 Preservation Society is now re-launched with a newly elected committee. The "Project D8233" name will however live on as the name given to the restoration team.