The Class 22s were allocated to Bristol Bath Road, Laira Plymouth, Newton Abbot and Old Oak Common.

The majority of the class always operated in the West of England, on a range of local passenger and freight work, with smaller numbers of the later units operating on local work in the Bristol area and around London Paddington (notably moving empty carriages between the main station and Old Oak Common yard).

[10][note 1] NBL went bankrupt in 1962 and, by the late 1960s, withdrawn locomotives were being used to provide spares.

The NBL type 2s were introduced in all-over green livery with a light grey skirt band, mid-grey roof, red buffer beams and black underframe.

Numbers appeared below all four cab windows and the BR 'lion and wheel' emblem was placed high on the bodyside as centrally as possible.