The Avon Valley Railway in Bristol is inviting visitors to its traditional 1940s Weekend on 16 and 17 September.

This year, the event has the theme ‘Salute to Shunters’.

Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 Diesel Mechanical No WD70042 ‘Overlord’ will be at the event, visiting from The Historic Dockyard at Chatham. Overlord is a sister to Avon Valley’s WD70043 ‘Grumpy’, and the two locos will run alongside each other in more than seventy years.

Hunslet Austerity No 7 ‘Wimblebury’ will also be present, as it is on loan to Avon Valley for the 2023 season from the Foxfield Railway.

Resident locomotives Frys Sentinel No 7492 and Polish TKh49 No 4015 ‘Karel’ will haul trains in a busy gala timetable.

All locos’ appearances are subject to availability.

The timetable includes express trains, double- and triple-headers, and freight trains (both fitted and unfitted). It also includes Overlord’s first hauling of a revenue-earning passenger service in recent memory.

Other attractions include:

• a costumed ‘Winston Churchill’
• singer Jayne Darling
• re-enactors portraying 1940s life
• vintage vehicles on display.

Tickets are priced at:

• £12 Adult
• £11 Concessions
• £8 Child (5-15yrs)
• Under-5s free

All tickets can be purchased from this link.