2807

2807 is a GWR 2800 Class 2-8-0 heavy freight locomotive, owned by Cotswold Steam Preservation Limited and a permanent resident on the GWR. Completed at Swindon Works in October 1905 to the design of George Jackson Churchward, it is one of a class of 84 locomotives (later extended to 167 under Collett) that were the first 2-8-0s to run in Britain. No. 2807 holds the distinction of being the oldest GWR locomotive in private hands — only two older GWR engines survive, Dean Goods No. 2516 and City of Truro No. 3717.

First allocated to Westbourne Park and Old Oak Common in the Paddington area, 2807 moved to South Wales in 1911, working coal traffic from Aberdare and later Pontypool Road. During the First World War, the locomotive played its part in the famous "Jellicoe Specials" — the round-the-clock trains hauling Welsh steam coal northwards to Lancashire ports for onward shipment to the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow. The 2800 Class engines worked the South Wales to Lancashire section of this vital wartime service.

After the war, 2807 moved to Bristol and then, in 1924, to Tyseley — from where it is believed to have regularly worked over the Stratford–Cheltenham main line, passing through Broadway, Toddington and Winchcombe, the very stations it calls home today. Under British Railways from 1948, the locomotive saw further postings to Hereford, Worcester, Chester, Pontypool Road, Ebbw Junction, Newton Abbot and finally Severn Tunnel Junction.

After 1,472,687 miles and over 57 years of service, 2807 was withdrawn in March 1963 and consigned to Woodham Brothers' scrapyard at Barry that November. It would sit there for over seventeen years — making it the oldest locomotive rescued from Barry when Cotswold Steam Preservation Limited purchased it in June 1981.

2807 was moved to Toddington, becoming the first steam locomotive on the fledgling Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway. What followed was a painstaking twenty-nine year restoration, carried out by a dedicated team of around fifteen volunteers. The locomotive finally returned to steam in 2010, undergoing testing at Llangollen before entering service on its home railway.

Over the next decade, 2807 covered some 42,000 miles and proved a popular visitor to heritage railways across the country, appearing at the West Somerset Railway, Great Central Railway, Keighley & Worth Valley Railway and North Yorkshire Moors Railway among others. A boiler tube failure during a visit to the NYMR in 2016 was an early warning, and after its boiler certificate expired in late 2019, the locomotive made its last run of that ticket on New Year's Day 2020.

The subsequent ten-year overhaul saw the boiler sent to Riley & Son (E) Ltd at Heywood, where it was found to be in better condition than feared, though a new front section of boiler barrel, smokebox and front tubeplate were still required. The mechanical overhaul was completed by volunteers at Toddington, and 2807 moved under its own steam again in September 2023 before returning to service at the Autumn Showcase gala that October. In late 2024, it was repainted into GWR wartime black livery for the first time in preservation — a fitting nod to its Jellicoe Specials heritage.