RAILWAY enthusiasts flocked to Ropley station to see the lifting of an 18-ton boiler after it arrived on a lorry.

The boiler will eventually be fitted into a Canadian Pacific Class train engine built in 1941 which, after a £300,000 restoration, will be the flagship steam locomotive of The Watercress Line.

Getting the boiler off the lorry was a dramatic operation and a steam hammer had to be used to lift it and swing it over to the boiler shed where it will be restored. When its missing component parts are replaced it will weigh 28 tons.

The Canadian Pacific train, under restoration, used to run between Waterloo and the South Coast and probably carried troops on their way for embarkation during the Second World War.

After the age of steam ended the train was sold to a scrapyard in Wales but, said project supervisor Dave Deane, “they got rid of the carriages first and by the time they came to work on the engine the price of scrap iron had fallen so low it wasn’t worth it”.

After it was “rescued”, the train had two owners before the Mid-Hants Railway Company bought the engine, and they are now running a fundraising campaign to generate the final £200,000 needed to restore it.

“The train was made in Eastleigh,” said Mr Deane, “and because it was during the war there would have been a female workforce employed on it and we are now running a programme to encourage more women and girls to become engineers.

“Also, during the restoration of the engine we have been working with the Job Centre to give people work experience and two have now found employment.”

When the restoration work is finished the train will be painted in its original colour, Brunswick Green, and in three years time will prove a start attraction on the Watercress Line.