VOLUNTEERS at the Dean Forest Railway (DFR) worked day and night to ensure a newly-restored 'Prairie' locomotive was ready for its big day.

Number 5541 returned to service over the Easter weekend following a £100,000 restoration – the most expensive in the railway's history.

The loco, which was built in Swindon in 1928, has been the subject of an extensive restoration effort, which began when the DFR first received the engine from the 'railway graveyard' in Barry, South Wales, in 1972.

Spending most of its working life based in Machynlleth, by the time 5541 was pronounced redundant and sent for scrap in 1962, it had completed a colossal 921,589 miles, albeit with two new boilers during its working life.

In October 1972 the locomotive was taken by rail from Barry to Parkend where the restoration work began, with it returning to steam three years later.