Two vintage express steam engines running through Shropshire on Saturday - where to see them
Two classic steam engines of a type once regularly seen in Shropshire will make their way through the county on Saturday.
The pair of Castle class express engines, designed and built by the Great Western Railway, and latterly British Railways, will be taking enthusiasts on a circular route starting and finishing at Birmingham New Street.
Passengers will head from Birmingham through Wolverhampton and on to Telford before continuing west towards Shrewsbury.
Once at the county town the train will turn south, bypassing the station, and head through the likes of Church Stretton and Ludlow before reaching Hereford.
Fronting the Vintage Trains-organised excursion will be Castle class locos 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe and 7029 Clun Castle.
The trip is marking 100 years since the first of the class, now preserved in Swindon where it was built, was introduced by the Great Western Railway. The design was so successful that a total of 171 were constructed over a 27-year period from 1923 to 1950.
Earl of Mount Edgcumbe was built in 1936 while Clun Castle - named after the castle in south Shropshire - was one of the last to be finished in 1950. Both locos were withdrawn in the 1960s and today are owned by Vintage Trains in Tyseley, Birmingham.
After a two-hour break in Hereford the train will go to Gloucester, via the Severn Tunnel, before returning to Birmingham via Bromsgrove and - the highlight of the trip for those on board - the famous Lickey Incline.
The Lickey Incline will present a stern test for the locos. The two-mile stretch of railway is Britain's steepest main line, with a gradient of 1 in 37.
For those planning to see the train in Shropshire, the timings are:
Wolverhampton - 9.06am
Cosford - 9.19am
Cosford Down Goods Loop - 9.23am-9.56am
Madeley Junction - 10.03am
Wellington - 10.11am
Shrewsbury Abbey Foregate - 10.24am
English Bridge Junction - 10.26am-10.44am
Sutton Bridge Junction - 10.50am
Dorrington - 11am
Marsh Brook Level Crossing - 11.11am
Craven Arms - 11.17am
Bromfield - 11.23am
Woofferton - 11.29am
Leominster - 11.34am
Moreton-on-lugg - 11.41am
Hereford - 11.50am
The train has a break of two hours in Hereford, leaving at 1.59pm on the next leg to Gloucester.
Later on it will pass Bromsgrove at 5.51pm, before immediately embarking on the two-mile climb of the Lickey Incline, arriving back into Birmingham New Street at 6.23pm.
Live updates of the train's progress on Real Time Trains:
Birmingham to Hereford here
Gloucester to Birmingham here
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