Hundreds turn up to Mid Suffolk Light Railway to witness Beyer Peacock locomotive

Visitors descended upon the Mid Suffolk Light Railway at the weekend to see the oldest locomotive to ever run on its line.

Passengers hopped aboard carriages pulled by the 143-year-old Beyer Peacock no. 1827 on Saturday to celebrate the railway’s 1940s weekend – held to mark the run-up to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

John Reeve, marketing manager at the visitor attraction, explained how the opportunity to host the 0-4-0 tank engine, built in 1879, had come by chance after the original engine booked for the weekend was unavailable.

He said: “It was a bit of a wing and a prayer because we were going to have another loco, but we couldn’t get it in the end. We found out that there was this one, a Beyer Peacock, on its way back from an event in Welshpool, so we thought why not extend the journey.”

Despite its vintage, the loco was in top form as it transported passenger trains across the Middy.

“The extraordinary thing is that it’s the oldest one we have ever had but, according to the driving crew, it’s a bit of a racehorse that performed extremely well over the weekend,” added Mr Reeve. “We set it up, and it was off.”

Other jubilee-themed displays were also on show at Mid Suffolk Light Railway’s Brockford and Wetheringsett station, including a Home Guard Firearms Civil Defenders re-enactment group and a selection of Second World War-era military and civilian vehicles.

The Beyer Peacock will remain at Mid Suffolk Light Railway throughout June.