A festival on a heritage railway will feature nine locomotives from across Britain, including five visiting this summer.
A Festival On Rails will take place along the North Norfolk Railway (NNR), which runs between Sheringham and Holt, from Saturday, August 24 to Sunday, September 1 2024.
The event will begin with a three-day Bank Holiday Gala, featuring six locos working an intensive service.
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From August 27 to September 1, four locos will be in action each day, with selected trains “double-headed” by two engines.
The exact line-up will change each day so that all nine will run at some point during the event.
Among the special guests is Britain’s newest steam locomotive No. 6880 “Betton Grange”.
It was completed earlier this year and it was the culmination of 30 years of work by a dedicated band of enthusiasts.
The Great Western Railway originally built 80 “Grange” Class engines between 1936 and 1939.
Two of the five visiting locos originally worked in Wales.
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No 4277 “Hercules” is a powerful Great Western Railway tank engine built in 1920 to haul heavy coal trains in the Welsh valleys.
No 22 dates from 1956 and, when new, worked for the National Coal Board at Graig Merthyr Colliery, near Swansea.
Sister engine No 18 was built to the same design in 1953 but was shipped to Scotland and spent most of her working life on the East Fife Colliery network.
The final visiting engine, diesel D7659, continues the Great British theme.
The Class 25 was the final locomotive built by Beyer Peacock at the historic Gorton Works in Manchester.
Graham Hukins, general manager, said: “With such a fantastic variety of engines representing railway history from the length and breadth of Great Britain here this summer, we felt we really ought to show them off."
Book tickets with unlimited travel all day at nnrailway.co.uk, with an early bird discount available until August 9.
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