NEARLY 50 years after its last trip on the route, Oliver Cromwell is returning to the East Suffolk Line on Saturday - and we want you to be our eyes and ears for the historic journey.

NEARLY 50 years after its last trip on the route, Oliver Cromwell is returning to the East Suffolk Line on Saturday - and we want you to be our eyes and ears for the historic journey.

The massive steam engine will be pulling a special train from Norwich and Lowestoft to London, using a route that was once a main line for tens of thousands of holidaymakers.

The name of the train - The Easterling �- also recaptures the golden days of the 1950s on the route when fast expresses stormed through Woodbridge and Saxmundham taking sun-seekers from London on holiday to Lowestoft or Great Yarmouth.

The Easterling sold out months ago but its journey through Suffolk should delight those watching as well as those lucky enough to have a ticket for this historic journey.

We want to see your pictures and video of the train as it passes through the East Suffolk countryside. It is due through Saxmundham at 10.22am on Saturday, Wickham Market ten minutes later and is scheduled to pass through Woodbridge station at 10.48am.

One of the most spectacular images should be the train in front of Woodbridge's historic Tide Mill - although Oliver Cromwell is certain to look impressive at any point alongside the Deben from Melton station south.

Although the East Suffolk line is now seen as a branch route, it was built to main-line standard enabling heavy trains like this to continue to use it.

Many people will be hoping that the success of this train will encourage operators the Railway Touring Company to repeat the trip, giving more steam enthusiasts the chance to repeat this historic journey.

If you take any still pictures of the train on the East Suffolk line that you would like us to publish, please send them to starnews@eveningstar.co.uk, marking the subject line Oliver Cromwell.

We hope to be able to publish some of the best in the newspaper and in an online gallery next week.

We are also looking for spectacular video of the run to put on our website. If you are planning to video the trip and would like your film to be seen by our website's thousands of visitors then please give us a call before late Friday afternoon on 01473-324788.

We can then arrange to look at your video and download it to our site as a permanent reminder of the train's visit to this wonderful line.