Watch as classic Blue Peter locomotive steams through Wellington on a giant loop around Shropshire
Blue Peter came through Shropshire - but there was no sign of sticky-back plastic or tortoises.
For this particular Blue Peter - caught on video as it went on a loop through the heart of Shropshire on Thursday - is a lovely steam engine that shares its name with the popular children's TV programme and the maritime signal.
A Star photographer was among the enthusiasts who gathered at points across the county to take pictures of the old express locomotive.
Photographer Steve Leath caught the train as it passed through Wellington Station, five minutes ahead of schedule. As his pictures show, it was the centre of attention for people on the platform.
The locomotive, 60532 Blue Peter, was on a test steaming through the county, pulling its first train on the mainline for nearly 23 years.
Blue Peter was running a circular route, starting and finishing at Crewe, which took it via Chester, Shrewsbury and Stafford.
The loco has just returned to its base in Crewe after several weeks of testing at the Severn Valley Railway following a seven-year overhaul by Locomotive Services Limited.
An A2 class express engine, it was one of 15 built by the London & North Eastern Railway, and latterly British Railways, in the late 1940s.
Blue Peter was completed in early 1948 and spent nearly all of its working life in Scotland until being withdrawn from service in 1966. The other 14 members of the class were taken out of service between 1962 and 1966 and scrapped.
Despite being named after a racehorse, its association with the children's show of the same title started in the late 1960s as enthusiasts bought the loco and restored it.
A Blue Peter is also a blue signal flag with a white square in the centre that is used to indicate that a merchant vessel is ready to sail.
In 1994 the engine suffered extensive damage during a catastrophic uncontrolled wheel slip, when its driving wheels reached a rotational speed of 140mph as the locomotive pulled away from a stop at Durham, before parts of the motion disintegrated.
After an 18-month repair job, the loco ran on the mainline until September 2001 before being withdrawn completely for overhaul in 2002.
It remained on static display until 2015 when its overhaul got under way in Crewe. It made its first movements in late 2023 before being taken by road to the Severn Valley Railway in March of this year.
After weeks of testing it returned to Crewe, by rail, on Tuesday.
Despite spending its operational career painted green, Blue Peter is currently, fittingly, in plain blue.
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