The East Lancashire Railway is hosting a Small Engines Gala on Saturday the 10th and Sunday the 11th of June.

The special event will see the railways fleet of smaller heritage locomotives in both steam and diesel operating up and down the line alongside first-time visitor to the railway Steam Tram ‘Lucie’.

Built by the John Cockerill Company in 1890, Cockerill Steam Tram Type IV Number 8 ‘Lucie’ features a vertical boiler and first started work with the East Brussels Tram Company operating from Saint Jose Place to the Brussels Cemetery in Evere. Lucie would have worked on both funeral trains and normal passenger services and it was likely that she also moved freight too.

Lucie was sold to the Vielle Montage Mining Company after the tram track was altered to metre gauge, where she worked in a mine in Angleur carrying out industrial operations and it is thought that she may have been given her name by her driver during this time.

Returned to the UK in 1987, Lucie underwent restoration at Peak Rail and Middleton Railway, where she last steamed in 2000 before being purchased and moved to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway in 2017 for a full restoration.

The event will see the following locomotives out in action:

Steam:

• Cockerill Steam Tram “Lucie”
• 0-4-0 L&Y Pug 19, numbered 11243
• 0-6-0 L&Y 752, numbered 51456
• 0-4-0 Sentinel Works 7232, “Ann”
• 0-6-0 Hudswell Clarke 32 “Gothenburg”
• 0-6-0 ‘Jinty’ 47298

Diesel:

• 0-6-0 D4002 “Arundel Castle”
• Class 03, D2062
• Class 08, 08164 “Prudence”
• Class 08, 08479
• Class 08, Class 09, 09024
• Class 14 “Ernest”

These impressive smaller-sized locomotives were created with resilience in mind rather than speed and would be a regular site shunting around Bury station.

This special event offers a wonderful and rare opportunity to ride behind these charming engines.

Tickets are available to buy here, with options of a one or two-day rover ticket which will allow as many trips as you may like.