The Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway has lifted its Steam Ban and can now go ahead with a revised Steam Gala.

Now the ban is lifted, the Railway’s operating days for the remainder of the year will include steam power again.

The gala will feature all four of the Railway’s resident steam locomotives running an intensive timetable service.

The gala will also welcome visiting locomotives including ‘Victory’, a Decauville locomotive built in 1897 in France, which will be visiting from the Bredgar and Wormshill Railway in Kent.

The visit celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Railway’s twinning with the Froissy, Cappy and Dompierre Railway in France.

Another visiting loco will be Andrew Barclay No. 1919 of 1931, ‘Cegin’, which will be joining the gala courtesy of Statfold Country Park.

‘WDLR303’ Hunslet 1215, built in 1916, will also be visiting for the Leighton Buzzard Steam Gala, thanks to The War Office Locomotive Trust and Apedale Valley Light Railway.

This locomotive last visited Leighton Buzzard in 2019, shortly after it had become fit for operational duties for the first time in preservation. The loco took part in the Railway’s hundredth anniversary gala.

The Leighton Buzzard Railway is based at Page’s Park, Leighton Buzzard, and is an accredited museum whose history is linked with the sand quarrying industry around the Bedfordshire town.

The railway displays equipment from the quarrying era and a significant collection of Great War vintage narrow gauge equipment.

The Leighton Buzzard Railway line runs to Stonehenge Works and Munday’s Hill, next to the sand quarries which the original industrial railway was built to serve.

Tickets for individual trains are now on sale via the Railway’s website.

Visitors can buy Day and Weekend Rover tickets on the day from the station building.

Earlier this summer, the Railway ran a successful Beer Festival.