The Bluebell Railway has announced that SR Schools No. 925 ‘Cheltenham’ will make a visit to them for their Giants of Steam Gala in October.

The Schools locomotive will make the trip to East Sussex courtesy of the National Railway Museum and the Mid Hants Railway.

Taking place over the weekend of 8th – 10th October 2021, Cheltenham will join already announced 35028 Clan Line and resident locomotives of No. 73082 Camelot, 80151 and SR Q No. 30541.

Full details, including timetables, will be announced soon.

925 Cheltenham last visited the Bluebell Railway for their gala in 2015.

Cheltenham was completed at Eastleigh Works in April 1934 and was initially allocated to Fratton Depot in Portsmouth, where it worked on the London Waterloo to Portsmouth direct line. In its working life, Cheltenham was also allocated to Bournemouth, Dover, Bricklayers Arms, Stewarts Lane, and Basingstoke. Preservation life for Cheltenham has seen Tyseley and Dinting being called home but was overhauled and returned to steam in 2012 at Eastleigh Works in time for RailFest 2012 and is now on long-term loan to the Mid Hants Railway.

What do you think of this visiting locomotive? Let us know in the comments below.