Age of steam

For steam train enthusiasts, this was a day to savour when the Dorset Coast Express took to the rails through Hampshire.

Four similar runs are scheduled this summer by the Railway Touring Company as day trips from London’s Victoria station to Weymouth in Dorset, and toay’s was the second.

The piece d’resistance for rail enthusiasts is the steam locomotive hauling the train, the LNER class No 60009 “Union of South Africa” once a regular on the East Coast mainline from London to Scotland.

Union of South Africa was built in 1937 but is now it is one of only a handful of the class still surviving and due to be retired to a museum next year.

The Dorset Coast Express like similar special excursions provide an opportunity to relive the ‘golden age’ of steam, whether on board as a passenger, or like me from a handy bridge over the track at Totton in Hampshire.