Thanks to the efforts of the numerous, dedicated enthusiasts there are more than 300 preserved heritage mainline locomotives in the UK. These people work on a volunteer basis and devote enormous amounts of time and effort to help restore these classic machines.
Those under restoration or stored unserviceable fall into distinct two categories; those that have previously been operational since their last working for British Rail (BR) but now require major repairs or further restoration and those that have never run since their disposal from BR and are still in the process of being restored. Those in the latter category can take several decades to restore and represent a lifetimes work for their owners and volunteers.