The Ffestiniog Railway, in North Wales, has announced that War Department steam locomotive No. 1215 will be visiting the line for their Hunslet 125 gala in June.

This locomotive has not been running in the UK for 56 years and will one of the stars of the show this coming June.

155 steam locomotives were built by Hunslet for the war effort in a period of just over 3 years. After the war, they saw further service all over the world – few were used in the UK, sadly, none made it into preservation.

Following the repatriation of No. 1215 from Australia, the War Office Locomotive Trust team have rebuilt the locomotive, including a brand new boiler.

The hard work has resulted in a beautiful locomotive. You can see this first hand at the Hunslet 125 event, where 1215 will join Linda and Blanche as they celebrate their 125th birthday.

Advance Rover Tickets for Hunslet 125 can be bought online here.

1215 will also go on longer solo trips on Monday, June 25th. These will form a separate event.

What did the officials say?

Paul Lewin, General Manager comments “We are particularly pleased to welcome 1215 at our event. It is quite poignant that a locomotive built to serve in the trenches in the first world war should be present not only for us to enjoy but also acting as an important reminder of the events of a hundred years ago.”

Ian Hughes of the War office locomotive trust comments “After the long haul of fundraising and restoration we are delighted that we can look forward to seeing our locomotive in steam at a number of events this year. Hunslet 125 offers the prospect of dozens of comparisons with other Hunslets large and small.”

More information on the Hunslet 125 gala will be available soon. Please keep up to date on our Twitter and Facebook pages as all information will be available there.

• Visit the Ffestiniog Railway website
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