During the Second World War, several Great Western Dean Goods locomotives were stored at the military base in Castle Rock as backup motive power just in case an air raid scored a hit on the loco sheds of the base. When BR came to claim Britain’s railway companies, all of the Deans went into service with the BR and most returned home to the west. A few of the Deans actually remained in Castle Rock until the railway was dismantled.

It was thought that all of these locomotives were sent away from Castle Rock to be scrapped but it turns out, as the builders cleared the way for new housing, that a Dean Goods was still stuck in the old railway shed along with a few wagons. The building company immediately told the Castle Rock Heritage Railway and the locomotive was recovered and sent to the Riverside Works.

To date, the locomotive has still not been restored and instead now sits in the visitor hall at the front of the Works as a First World War loco exhibit. The locomotive is due to be restored fully in a few years.