Rail event reaches milestone (From York Press)

Rail event reaches milestone

1:20pm Thursday 10th May 2012 in News By Mike Laycock, Chief reporter

ORGANISERS of Britain’s biggest rail celebration at York’s National Railway Museum have passed a major milestone.

Railfest 2012, which takes place between June 2 and 10, has attracted more than 50 rail vehicles, including steam and diesel engines, passenger carriages and even snow blowers, which will fill an enormous space the size of 11 football pitches.

Many of them have made their mark on history as record breakers for being the fastest, strongest, first, last and oldest – making it the largest gathering of railway record breakers ever brought together in one place.

Among confirmed attendees are the Mallard, holder of the record for the fastest steam locomotive at 126mph, Tornado, the newest mainline steam locomotive in operation and Mardy Monster, the most powerful industrial tank engine to run in the UK.

The Flying Scotsman, which is currently undergoing major restoration work, is also set to attend, with further work being carried out after the event.

Museum director Steve Davies said: “We’re proud to be welcoming such a huge gathering of these track-stars to our museum.

“With less than a month to go until the beginning of the event, the plans and preparations are really starting to take shape and excitement is certainly growing.”

To celebrate the milestone being passed, two-year-old Millie Theaker, from Acomb, whose mother works at the museum, had her face painted in a ‘Railfest’ theme yesterday, and posed with balloons beside two of the locomotives which are set to attend the event.

Railfest will be hosted in an outdoor area at the museum with entry to the rest of the museum remaining free to visitors.

*Railfest tickets can be bought by visiting nrm.org.uk/railfest2012 or by calling 0870870 4840.