Heritage railway marks 50th anniversary of revival
England's longest heritage railway is marking 50 years of its revival by recreating the first journey made after its reopening, using the same historic locomotive.
The West Somerset Railway (WSR) line was earmarked for closure during the Beeching cuts in the 1960s - before the then Somerset County Council bought the line and leased it back to the West Somerset Railway Company in 1976.
On Saturday at 12:15 GMT, the 2996 Victor will set off on a round trip from Minehead to Blue Anchor to re-enact its first journey 50 years ago.
Seb Welsh, assistant general manager and event planner at WSR, said: "It's a tribute to the older volunteers, the pioneers of the railway."
WSR said the revival of the 20 mile (32.1km) line was the first step towards the area becoming one of the major tourism and leisure attractions in Somerset.
Paul Conibeare, a driver at WSR, was the last person to drive the 2996 Victor in 1988 when it stopped being used on the line as the railway expanded.
He will drive it on Saturday for the first time in 38 years, along with other colleagues.
"For a lot of us it will bring back a lot of memories," Conibeare told BBC Radio Somerset.
"There's a lot of people travelling over this weekend. Sadly there'll be a lot who won't be with us, but they'll be in our memories.
"They taught us a lot back in the early days because we were novices. We relied heavily on the old railwaymen to show us how to do it. We didn't always get it right but it was good fun."
Welsh said: "Turning is 50 is a big cause for celebration.
"We hope it can be a worthy tribute to their efforts in the early days to keep railway going for the younger generation."
He added that his mum had recreated the bunting decked out on the original locomotive.
"She's put a lot of effort in, she's made all the colours correct," Welsh said.
"We've tried to judge the sizes as best we could from the original photographs so it's going to look fantastic I hope."
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