The North Norfolk Railway has announced that a Class 69 will be joining them for their Rails and Ales event.

The locomotive will be joining their spectacular line-up of steam and diesel locomotives on the 13th, 14th, and 15th June.

In celebration of the heritage railway’s 50th anniversary, GB Railfreight have agreed to name the Class 69 “North Norfolk Railway”.

At the current time, the exact locomotive identity is yet to be confirmed, but it will be at a special ceremony on the 13th June for the naming.

The locomotive will be one that has entered service over the last 12 months, meaning that this will be its heritage line and public passenger train debut.

This special train is the fourth announced visitor and will be joining a few other locomotives.

GBRf stablemate 66714 ‘Cromer Lifeboat’ and Class 40, D213 ‘Andania’ will be visiting courtesy of Locomotive Services Limited.

Also joining will be DRB Railbus E79960, which has previously worked on off-peak services when the Poppy Line reopened.

80080 will be making her North Norfolk Railway debut and will appear alongside a secondary steam locomotive, three railcars which will be working in a six-car formation and four home diesels.

A specially brewed ale called the ‘Golden Poppy Ale’ will be on sale to further celebrate the decades of progress.

The Rails and Ales event will also see the return of the Breakfast Train, details of which can be found on NNR’s website.

Advance booking for the event is recommended so that visitors can receive a 15% discount. Other events still feature early bird tickets, which can still be booked alongside this event on the NNR website.

“We are very grateful to GBRF for supporting Rails & Ales with two of their modern locomotives – a Class 66 and a Class 69 – and thrilled that they have chosen to name a Class 69 after the Railway. It is an absolute honour in our 50th Anniversary Year.

“We’re also delighted that both GBRf locomotives will haul some of our services across the three-day event, both types are an extremely rare sight on passenger trains so this is a real opportunity to ride behind modern freight engines”

General Manager, Graham Hukins