An historic locomotive will be going through its paces at Tenterden Station this weekend.

The M7 class loco is on a month’s loan to Kent & East Sussex Railway.

It will be in action pulling trains at the 1940s weekend, which starts on Saturday and runs until Monday, and again at the railway’s Southern Branch Line weekend later in May.

For KESR operating manager Pete Salmon, it will be a reunion with an old friend.

“The engine used to work on the line between Three Bridges and East Grinstead in the 1960s,” he said.

“The line ran at the back of our garden and when the trains went by, I used to run down and watch them.”

Mr Salmon said seeing the loco would be a treat for train enthusiasts.

“It is an historic engine and will be the first time it has been in Tenterden,” he said. “It will be good for people to see it.”

The locomotive, number 30053, was built in 1905 and is one of only two surviving M7 class ones.

It will be pulling trains for KESR this weekend and at the Southern Branch Line weekend from Saturday, May 23, to Monday, May 25.

For details of the 1940s weekend, see this week's Tenterden Kentish Express.