A CROWD-pulling steam engine will make a nostalgic return to the West Somerset Railway next month after an absence of almost three decades.

The locomotive, formally known as BR Standard 4MT 4-6-0 No. 75069, will be visiting the line for the Spring Steam Gala, which is being held from May 5 to May 8.

WSR general manager Kerry Noble said it was again heading West from its home on the Severn Valley Railway (SVR).

She said: “We are very privileged to be No. 75069's first host heritage railway since 2018. It last visited us 28 years ago so we are very pleased to have it back.”

The loco was one of the last of its type to be built by British Rail at Swindon in 1955, and it was sent to a scrapyard after just 11 years in service around London and the South Coast.

Seven years later it was rescued by the SVR thanks to a massive fund-raising effort and was restored in a project taking more than 10 years.

After visiting the WSR for a season in 1994, it was taken out of service and put into store until a major overhaul costing almost £1million and involving more than 25,000 hours of work.

This is the locomotive’s first trip away from the SVR since then, and it will haul trains between Bishops Lydeard and Minehead during next month’s event alongside the home fleet of locomotives and another visiting engine from Scotland.