Greyhound remained at Laira, stored after withdrawal in December 1972, until May 1973. Staff at Laira ran the loco's engines to ensure all was in order and on the 24th of May the loco was delivered, running light under its own power, to the Railway Centre at Didcot. This was the first main line diesel locomotive to be preserved by a private group and the second privately owned, first for preservation, locomotive to operate under its own power on the main line (see D8568).

Didcot Railway Centre was not too much in favour of having diesel locomotives on its site and as a result we had to go. On the 9th February 1974, D821 was hauled to Reading Gas Works where we set about returning the locomotive back to maroon livery. This was not the best location for restoration as it was outside with no power supply, water came from the nearby River Thames and the locomotive subject to attention from local yobs on numerous occasions. Despite these harsh conditions we managed to slowly turn the livery from faded blue to gleaming maroon.

D821 Greyhound and Hymek D7029 stand in Reading Gas Works in conditions that can best be described as basic! The Hymek had received attention from the local yobs 'Walton boys' and had done considerable damage inside.		Colin Massingham looks into the cab of Greyhound on the turntable at Swindon, wondering what had he done! Well, he secured the first main line diesel locomotive for preservation .. and proved it was possible. Beside D821 is D818 Glory. It was the closure of the works and the eventual cutting of D818 that secured additional components to keep D821 operational.

November 1975 and D821 was joined by newly acquired Hymek D7029 and soon came the realisation we were not moving forward because of the conditions, we needed somewhere better. And so on the 21st February 1977, with the hydraulic era on British Railways drawing to a close, our Warship D821 Greyhound and Hymek D7029 were hauled by a diesel shunter to Reading depot where Class 31, 31259, took over to haul the duo to Swindon Works for secure accommodation.

Here restoration to a higher standard could begin and we always had the intention of operating the Warship, and accompanying Hymek D7029, on the main line only. Once the locos were operational it was a game of wait and see what will happen or go to a private line and run the locos.

The North Yorkshire Years

The opportunity came to run our two locomotives on a private line, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway at Grosmont. The move to Grosmont took place on the 16th April 1981, again hauled by a Class 31, 31158. The first run in Yorkshire occurred two days later when we operated a loading gauge special with D7029 to Pickering and back, a locomotive at either end of the Observation Saloon.

Greyhounds first passenger train in preservation took place on the 21st April 1981, working the 12:00 Grosmont to Pickering, and the locomotive operated very reliably over the coming years.

The first preserved working of a Warship, 21st April 1981. As yet we hadn't put any decals on the body sides. Lots of looking and one head scratch eventually solved the loco to unit coupling problem and of course the bloke in between with a hammer lent a hand too!		Peter Watts, from F&W Railtours, climbs into the cab of Greyhound at Goathland for his cab ride on the 'Yorkshire Greyhound' railtour, 10th October 1981.

During 1988 Greyhound became 'Windhund'! A badly needed repaint gave us the opportunity to try something silly and D821 became V200 021 / 220 021. Digits were cut out of floor tiles to give the raised body side letter stating DEUTSCHE BUNDESBAHN and various names were applied, with floor tiles cut out and sprayed silver! Amongst the names carried were 'Dopplegänger' (Impostor) and 'Deutschland' after a famous German Naval Ship. The biggest nameplate stated 'Ausgezeichnet' as the name (Excellent) and underneath stated 'Leistung Ohne Bleienzeit' which translated to Performance without delay!

Playtime over and during the Winter of 1990/1991 Greyhound was repainted into blue livery with yellow warning panels, a very early version of the corporate blue livery adopted by British Railways, and originally carried by D831 Monarch.

How it could have been! The majority of work creating German Railways (DB) V200 class 220 021 was carried out by one lunatic man, Hg, Leland. Stan even made nameplates in German styling and all the identity plates along the body valance were rewritten in typical DB style! This livery caused quite a stir, we even had a phone call from model makers Märklin who were interested in portraying the livery in model form!		Eventually we returned the loco to a British Railways livery, particularly D831's variation of early corporate blue. The loco is seen at Darnholm climbing towards Goathland on the NYMR.

The last operational run on the NYMR occurred on the 27th April 1991, where D821 had accumulated 15,313¼ miles.

Severn Valley Railway (Colchester and Laira)

On the 2nd August D821 and Clayton D8568 were hauled by 47401 to Gloucester for an Open Day event taking place on the 4th. After this D821, along with D1015 Western Champion and several other locomotives, were taken to Old Oak Common for another Open Day event at this major London depot. Not content with that Colchester Open Day committee asked for D821 to attend which saw the Warship make a stop at Liverpool Street! Engineering work had forced the diversion via 'the Street', 47701 took D821 to Liverpool Street and 31165 took over for the run to Colchester.

After Colchester we were invited to attend the Laira Open Day during September 1991 along with 5 other Westerns and Hymek D7017. This event saw the biggest collection of hydraulics together in one location since the end of the hydraulics back in 1977. After the event we took the opportunity to put Greyhound on the wheel lathe to bring the wheel sets up to standard before returning back to our new home, the Severn Valley Railway.

Out and About

The next outing was to the East Lancashire Railway and for this event we refitted Greyhound with full multiple working control. Arriving in September 1993 for the October event and working with the Bury Hydraulic Group, we got both D821 and D832 Onslaught to work together in multiple. Both locomotives ran as a pair then for the event which proved very popular. Greyhound remained in Lancashire for the Winter until being offered the chance to attend another private Old Oak Common Open Day event! Greyhound travelled to Wembley Yard via the West Coast Mainline on the 17th March 1994, being tripped later to the Western Region.

DTG and BHG seminar shot of D821 and D832 at Bury with D821 in British Rail Blue variation livery as worn by D831 Monarch, 3rd of October 1993 (DTG Archive)

Once the event, where staff unveiled the newly repainted 47004 as D1524, was over we set about returning Greyhound to green livery again. The superb accommodation and facilities enabled us to do our quickest and best paint job on a locomotive we owned. On the 28th of April Greyhound emerged from the factory sporting a new coat of paint. Two days later D821 was on display in Riverside Yard at Exeter attending the Exeter Rail Fair! After the event we returned again back to Kidderminster.

The next outings were at the end of 1994. This time the Warship travelled by road to events at the West Somerset Railway in the October and the Gloucester & Warwickshire Railway in the November. Road transport was the best choice at the time because the Warship is still only vacuum braked and at that time there were only a few windows of opportunity to carry out rail movements, none of which tied in with the requirements. October 1995 and another road movement saw us attend an event at the Llangollen Railway.

During July 1998 we returned to the East Lancashire Railway for their week long event operating during the hydraulic day and at the Western Region day events. A livery alteration took place here to the green, with full yellow front ends applied and Greyhound operated as long lost class members D808 Centaur and D810 Cockade, D821 has also run as D800 Sir Brian Robertson and D831 Monarch during preservation.

August 2000 and two Warships were together again at Old Oak Common for the EWS Open Day event, both sat on the turn table with D1015 Western Champion, D1023 Western Fusilier and D9555 further representing the hydraulics.

Cornwall

From the end of March 2001, D821 became Cornwall. The locomotive was twinned with the Royal Navy ship at Falmouth Docks which saw the return of a Warship to Cornwall. The loco was hauled to Falmouth by preserved Class 50, D449, as D821 is not main line certified (yet!) and later attended the Bodmin & Wenford Railway diesel gala. Following on from there D821 attended an event on the Mid-Hants Railway on the 7th April before returning home to Kidderminster.

D821 'CORNWALL' at Falmouth Docks. The ship in the background is not HMS Cornwall by the way! 24th of March 2001 (Tom Sawyer)

D821 reverted back to Greyhound on 29/09/02 but remained out of traffic whilst a replacement engine was rebuilt for 'A' End, eventually re-entering traffic for the SVR October 2003 Diesel Gala still in Green with half yellow panels. The Loco ran like this until full yellow ends were applied to the Green livery in May 2004 and these remained until the loco was stopped at the end of the year for 'B' Engine to be overhauled as it was suffering from water in the sump.

During 2005, whilst the Engine was being overhauled, the opportunity was taken to remove the 'A' End cab electrical cubicle for rewiring as this had gradually been developing more and more faults. The Overhauled Cubicle was refitted in August 2006.

More photos of D821 in preservation can be seen in the Preservation Gallery