In 13 pictures: Steam train pays special visit to Sussex

A special heritage steam train turned heads when it made stops at stations in Sussex this week.

The Sussex Belle special Christmas train visited Eastbourne and Hastings, after travelling through Sussex from Victoria Station, in London, on Wednesday.

The train, which was steam hauled by an LMS Black 5 locomotive, drew lots of attention with people crowding platforms and bridges to get pictures.

It left Hastings to travel back to London via Battle.

The train evokes the time of the Southern Belle Pullman Express, which once ran between Brighton and London Victoria in 60 minutes and billed itself as ‘The most luxurious train in the world’.

Kevin Boorman from the Marshlink Community Rail Partnership said: “It was ‘Black 5’ 44871 pullingb the train. This loco, based at the East Lancashire railway, worked the last BR steam train in 1969, the ’15 Guinea Special’, and also regularly works the Jacobite in Scotland, also known as Hogwart’s Express.

“Unusually there was another loco in Hastings at the same time, a Class 73 (73 962) en-route from West Marina to Tonbridge,. It is very rare indeed to have two locomotives on unrelated workings in Hasting station, which normally only sees ‘multiple units’.”

Pictures by Kevin Boorman and Justin Lycett.

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