Bulleid West Country Pacific No. 34028 Eddystone will be a great attraction at the North Norfolk Railway as it will be working trains next weekend, the Easter bank holiday from 7th to 10th April, and the line's Spring Steam Gala on 14th, 15th, and 16th April.
Eddystone is visiting the North Norfolk Railway from its home at the Swanage Railway in Dorset, and will be sharing duties with two other steam locomotives during the Poppy Line's Easter Bank Holiday Weekend. The railway hopes that the other locomotives in action will be Standard Class 9F No. 92203 Black Prince and British Railways Standard 4MT No 76084.
As well as Eddystone, another attraction next weekend is the reappearance of the line's unique 1920s London and North Eastern Railway Quad-Art articulated teak-bodied carriages, which will be in service for passengers to travel on throughout the weekend.
The Quad-Art set has returned to the line after work at a state-of-the-art engineering facility in Leeds where its metal tyres were reprofiled. It is normal for carriage wheels to suffer uneven wear during use, which causes vibrations that can be uncomfortable for passengers but could also cause damage to the carriages and even the tracks.
Originally built to work express trains on the Southern Railway, Eddystone returned to service on the Swanage Railway after an extensive three-year overhaul, and when it is not on loan to other railways, as during the next two weekends, it usually hauls services between Norden, Corfe Castle, and Swanage.
For younger visitors during the Easter Bank Holiday Weekend, there will be the chance to take part in the railway's free Easter Explorer's Trail, where they can help Morgan the Railway Cat to decipher clues and save the day.
For the rest of this year, the railway's standard services will run on most days until October, running through 5½ miles of wonderful scenery between the Victorian resort of Sheringham and the Georgian town of Holt.
Full details and timetables are available at www.nnrailway.co.uk, and passengers who book online in advance receive a generous discount on ticket prices.
