A HISTORIC steam train has been delighting rail enthusiasts by passing through Chester and Wrexham this week.

The 70000 Britannia locomotive has been taken for some test runs this week, and is scheduled to make another journey on Friday, January 27.

Scheduled to start at 9.32am, the train will depart from Crewe – where it was built in 1951 and lovingly restored in the 2000s – before heading to Chester for an estimated arrival of 10.39am.

From there, it will depart and head into Wales, passing the Saltney Junction at about 10.47am, en route to Wrexham for about 10.59am, where it will continue through to Ruabon at 11.05am, Chirk at 11.10am and Gobowen at 11.13am.

The train is expected to arrive at Shrewsbury for about 11.39am, where it will reverse and go to its final stop of Coton Hill TC at 11.55am.

 

 

The service has the title The East Anglian, in recognition of where the locomotive was initially based in the 1950s. It also pulled the funeral train of King George VI from King's Lynn, Norfolk to London in February 1952.

After being withdrawn in May 1966, Britannia was initially destined for the National Railway Museum, but after a series of handovers – including in the hands of pop mogul and rail enthusiast Pete Waterman – the train was brought back to life, and now runs in traditional British Rail green.