STEAM trains are to return to a Suffolk branch line again this month – and this year they'll have nearly twice as far to run as they did in 2002.The Mid-Suffolk Light Railway, based at Wetheringsett, is to hire a Barclay industrial engine for the rest of the month and will be offering rides every Saturday and Sunday in June.

STEAM trains are to return to a Suffolk branch line again this month – and this year they'll have nearly twice as far to run as they did in 2002.

The Mid-Suffolk Light Railway, based at Wetheringsett, is to hire a Barclay industrial engine for the rest of the month and will be offering rides every Saturday and Sunday in June.

The engine is due to arrive at the railway on Thursday, and will be steamed for the first time 48 hours later.

This year the trains should run on 500 yards of track – an increase on the 300 yards the railway was able to operate last year.

Then the railway ran its first trains for half a century – the Mid Suffolk Light Railway was one of the first lines in Britain to be closed more than a decade before Dr Beeching slashed the network.

Last year's event was a huge success with an old Great Eastern Railway locomotive similar to those which operated on the line drawing the crowds.

This year's guest locomotive is also appropriate – Barclay industrial engines were widely used to pull sugar beet to factories before the traffic was transferred to roads.

Steam trains will be operating out of Brockford and Wetheringsett station, which is signposted from the A140, between 11am and 5pm on Sundays in June and from 2pm to 5pm on Saturdays – except the last Saturday when steam will be running from 11am.

For further details see the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway's website at www.mslr.org.uk

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