Steam locos to reunite for first time in 50 years

Strictly Bulleid Two is a three day event in Dorset celebrating the steam engines

Eight steam engines will gather at a historic railway line, in a sight not seen in the south of England for more than 50 years.

Most of the 1940s Bulleid Pacific class steam locomotives will chug along the nine-mile Swanage Railway track between Swanage, Harman’s Cross, Corfe Castle, Norden and beyond to Furzebrook and the River Frome from Friday.

It is part of Strictly Bulleid Two, which is a three-day event in Dorset, remembering the machines which stopped running in southern England in 1967.

Event organiser Alexander Atkins said: “Strictly Bulleid Two is a celebration of Bulleid brilliance and the magnificent people behind these incredible engines."

The locomotives became known as "Spam Cans" because of their distinctive shape

He added: “It is unlikely that we will see a gathering of eight Bulleid Pacifics in steam together – and hauling trains - again in our lifetime so to be able to enjoy an event on such a scale as this is truly a privilege.”

Southern Railway chief mechanical engineer Oliver Vaughan Snell Bulleid designed the engine during the World War Two, and it was used to haul trains from London to Corfe Castle and Swanage between the late 1940s and 1966.

The locomotives became known as "Spam Cans" because of their resemblance to the distinctive tin cans in which tinned ham was sold.

The Strictly Bulleid Two event will see trains running on Friday and Saturday evening.

It will also see Swanage Railway run night-time passenger trains for the first time.

They will travel in the early hours of Sunday morning in a re-creation of the night steam trains from the days of British Railways.

Swanage Railway held the first Strictly Bulleid event in 2017 when five of the locomotives hauled trains along the track.