It was the warmest of welcomes for a special little lady.
Large crowds gathered to see Katie, the latest locomotive at the Kirklees Light Railway, make her maiden journey on the line.
And for a select few there was the chance to take a ride on the historic train.
The Light Railway held a launch evening at Clayton West for their newly-acquired historic steam locomotive Katie and welcomed key figures in her history including former owners and drivers of the locomotive from Windmill Farm Railway and Fairbourne Railway.
The locomtove was acquired from a company running tourist services in south Wales.
General Manager, Stuart Ross said, “We have had a lot of interest in Katie since she arrived at the railway so we thought it would be ideal to give her a bit of a launch event at her new home.
“Importantly Austin Moss, the loco’s previous owner, who had painstakingly restored Katie back to her former glory over the past 15 years, was present as were some of her former drivers.
“The event gave guest the opportunity to see her operating at the railway for the first time.”
Mr Ross added “Katie has spent most of her life working on fairly level railways and the inaugural train from Clayton West is probably the hardest the loco had ever worked since being built in 1956!”
The historic locomotive arrived at the Kirklees Light Railway in April and has had a number of small jobs completed to make it compatible with the coaches including new air brakes, couplings and lighting.
There are still a few jobs for the Operations Department to complete before the locomotive will be in regular traffic at the railway.
