A RARE opportunity to see inside a steam locomotive workshop and a visit by some guest locomotives drew rail enthusiasts to the Forest over the weekend.

The Flour Mill workshop at Bream is celebrating its 20th anniversary and the Dean Forest Railway (DFR) joined in with a steam gala featuring three locomotives operating an intensive timetable.

The guest locomotives were Met 1, which famously was used on the London Underground, Beattie well tank 30587 that helped put the Flour Mill on the map and T9 class 30120 which was brought back to life despite a severely corroded cylinder.

General manager of the DFR, Roger Phelps, said the three-day gala had been a success and driving the guest locos had been ‘interesting’.

He said: “We had a lot of people, particularly on Saturday.”

The gala and Flour Mill opening will be repeated this Friday, Saturday and Sunday (July 8-July 10).

The Flour Mill started in 1996 with work on the National Railway Museum’s broad-gauge replica Iron Duke. The works has since overhauled many locomotives, specialising in Victorian tank engines such as the two 1874 Beattie well-tanks and most recently Metropolitan No. 1 for London Transport Museum.

They have also overhauled locomotives as large as 6960 Raveningham Hall and 92203 Black Prince, as well as building a new replica of Stephenson’s Rocket for the Science Museum.

“We want to celebrate being in business for 20 years by bringing some of ‘our’ locomotives back to the Forest, and there can be no better place to show them off than the Dean Forest Railway,” said owner of the Flour Mill Bill Parker.