D8069 was new to British Railways on June 30 1961, the last of a batch of 20 locos (D8050-69) for Tinsley depot in Sheffield. Apart from odd spells on loan, the loco remained in South Yorkshire until April 1968 when it moved to Toton. Two years later it emerged in blue as 8069 after overhaul at Crewe Works and gained the number 20069 in February 1974.

The decline of traffic in the early 1980s saw BR withdraw many locos and a batch of vacuum-braked Class 20s was included in that plan. Accordingly, 20069 was condemned on February 1 1981. Along with many classmates it was taken to Swindon Works for store. If work picked up, then a return to traffic was an option – Swindon was giving priority for the scrapping of Class 25s and 40s over 20s.

In June 1982, 20069 was earmarked for reinstatement and moved to Glasgow Works as part of a plan to upgrade all remaining Class 20s with dual brakes to see them in traffic for another decade. It was overhauled, dual-braked and emerged in December 1982 with larger Scottish-style numbers. It was also reallocated to Eastfield (while in works), but by the time it was released to traffic, its allocation had moved 45 miles east to Edinburgh’s Haymarket depot.

It spent a few years working in Scotland on duties that took it far and wide in the central belt with the occasional visit to the Highlands, Inverness or Fort William.

As part of the March 1985 reallocations which saw several 20s moved between depots, it was one of 13 Class 20s moved from Scotland to Tinsley, so returning to its initial home depot. When Tinsley’s 19 remaining 20s were reallocated to Immingham in May 1987, 20069 was added to the Trainload Metals sector in the FMYI pool.

Its next move was in January 1989 when it transferred to the FGXX Speedlink pool at Toton which was recoded to FGMN a month later. On March 19 1989 it switched to the DCMA pool for the Civil Engineer (LMR) and then a week later transferred to the slightly more specific DCMC pool for LMR Civil Engineer, Crewe area.

In July 1990 it switched to the DCMN pool (Nottingham area Civil Engineer). In September 1990 several Class 20s from the Trainload and Departmental sectors were condemned but 20069 survived, swapping the DCMN sector for a return to Trainload Metals – joining the FMTY pool at Thornaby but this work only lasted a few months as on May 19 1991 the loco was condemned. It was duly dumped at Frodingham depot awaiting disposal.

In 1992 a small group of friends, led by the late Chris Broadhurst, got together in a pub and discussed buying a Class 20 for preservation. A few months later 20069 was purchased from BR.

It arrived at County School, home of the fledgling Mid Norfolk Railway in June 1992 and luckily the loco had not been overly-robbed of parts so very little work was needed to get it running again, just a piston and liner and a turbo were replaced. After a good charge of the batteries, it started first time. The batteries lasted 20 years before replacement.

After a few years at County School it moved to Dereham along with the rest of the MNR stock.

In June 2001 it visited the nearby North Norfolk Railway for its diesel gala, and it stayed at Weybourne for four months, where it had a cylinder head change and use of the pit as there wasn't one at Dereham at the time.

2010 saw D8069 visit the Nene Valley Railway for its October diesel gala, which provided an opportunity to turn the loco using the turntable so when it returned to Dereham it was facing the other way round with its cab facing Wymondham.

It was stood down in June 2012 after being hit by a steam loco and went to Nemesis Rail at Burton for repairs, and returned to Dereham in 2013, but never worked again and was dumped out of use, eventually moving to Thuxton.

Harry Needle bought it, took it to Worksop but no work was done on it - Pip Dunn

A Community Interest Company was formed - D8069 CIC, paperwork was signed and on the evening of the 10th November 2025, 20069 / D8069 arrived at its new home on the East Lancashire Railway to begin its new venture under the careful hands of The Bury Chopper Group