TRAIN enthusiasts gathered on the platforms of Ipswich Station today to welcome a remarkable visitor to the town.

TRAIN enthusiasts gathered on the platforms of Ipswich Station today to welcome a remarkable visitor to the town.

Dozens awaited the arrival of the East Anglian Class 40 diesel locomotive, 50 years after the trains began to replace steam engines.

Rail travel has come on a lot since 1948 but its reliability hasn't changed much as the East Anglian proved when it ground to a smoky halt on platform two.

There it stayed while engineers hastily saw to the problem and within minutes the East Anglian was back on the way to its destination in Lowestoft.

The train originated in the West Midlands and ran via Cheltenham, climbing through the Golden Valley to Sapperton and descending into the Thames Valley.

A foray across North London led to Stratford and the Norwich main line.

At Ipswich it left the main line and would take the East Suffolk line to Lowestoft, before returning to Worcester's Shrub Hill station.

The first of the English Electric Type Four diesel locomotives was introduced into service in March 1958 for use in East Anglia.

Soon after the railways were nationalised in 1948, a programme of modernisation was proposed. Steam locomotives were to be replaced by diesel and electric engines much as they already had been in the USA and on the continent.