With the changes in the role of the British railway system and the closing of many of the facilities in which the Class 02 locomotives worked, they were increasingly surplus to requirements.

The first locomotives were withdrawn in December 1969 from the Preston division of the Midland Region and by the end of 1971 there were only four left in service with British Rail.

Being between nine and fourteen years old when withdrawn, they were still capable of work, and eleven were sold to private industry, with the remaining nine being scrapped.

D2851 was one of three locomotives that survived long enough to enter TOPS, spending nearly its entire life at Allerton Depot before it was withdrawn in 1975 and scrapped shortly afterwards.

[5] D2852 survived in BR service longer than most other locomotives in this class and was allocated the TOPS number 02002, but never carried it.

After leaving Bank Hall Shed, the locomotive was transferred to Speke Junction in 1966, and worked at Liverpool's Alexandra Dock during its time there.

While in its early years, still in Bank Hall Shed, the units worked mostly the Great Howard Street Goods Yard.

While in Allerton Depot, it frequently worked alongside the aforementioned D2851 prior to receiving its TOPS number.

It entered service in October 1960, and after leaving Bank Hall Shed it worked the Liverpool Docks until it was then transferred to Speke Junction.

Also in 1968, the unit was transferred from Speke Junction to Allerton TMD with D2852, where it would spend the rest of its BR life working.

After Leaving Bank Hall Shed, D2854 stayed in the Liverpool area, but was withdrawn shortly after in 1970 and sold to C F Booth of Rotherham.

D2856 was stripped for spares in September 1975, with the engine compartment being destroyed in the process, and the rest of the locomotive was scrapped the following month.

It then found itself in the Great Howard Street Goods Yard, then Liverpool Exchange, Speke Junction and finally Allerton Depot, where it resided until April 1971.

D2858 originally worked in Newton Heath until 1970, when it was permanently withdrawn and then was sold over to ICI Fertilisers in Widnes, who painted the engine red.

It also worked around the Workington area before being left to rust at the seaside for a number of years prior to scrapping.

D2860 was withdrawn in 1970, and four years later was picked for use in the National Railway Museum as a shunting locomotive, where it still resides today and is labelled as preserved.

D2864 left Bank Hall shed and was sent slightly east to Patricroft Yard, but then was moved to Newton heath where it was stored alongside D2869.

[14] D2866 lived a short, unknown BR life and was withdrawn in 1970, and was sold to Arnott Young & Co. in Dalmuir yard.

[6] D2868 was allocated to Bank Hall shed for the first three years of its life, but spent much of its time working in other areas, such as the Great Howard Street Goods Yard, Liverpool Exchange, Redfern Street Sidings and Garston Dock, all of which are in the Merseyside area where most members of the class worked.

In 1989, the locomotive was sold to the South Yorkshire Railway (now the Heritage Shunters Trust) for preservation, where it still resides.

It was then sold to Lowton Metals near Haydock, who overhauled the locomotive, and it worked there until 1988 when it was moved to Ripley and then preserved.

[3] D2867 was sold to Redland Roadstone Ltd, in Barrow upon Soar, having previously been on hire to a Welsh cement company while still technically under BR's influence.

There are seven locomotives now in preservation, where their small size makes them suitable as workshop shunters or for use in track maintenance work.

[4] D2853 was originally sent over to Meadowhall in 1997, before later being transferred to the Rutland Railway Museum and eventually in 2004 to Barrow Hill Engine Shed, where it resides today.

in-line connected to a Rolls-Royce series 10,000 three-stage twin-disc torque converter and a manually operated YEC reduction and reversing final drive gearbox.

[citation needed] Unlike most earlier British Rail shunters, the Class 02s were built with train vacuum brakes.