I was dead chuffed to hear that on Saturday night Transport for London (TFL) carried out tests designed to demonstrate the feasibility of running a steam locomotive on the London Underground for its 150th anniversary next year.

Locomotive Met no. 1 and Metropolitan First Class “Jubilee” Coach no. 353 are currently being restored in a project overseen by the London transport Museum. So this weekend’s tests were undertaken using the 1874 Beattie 30587 steam locomotive owned by the National Railway Museum. it was coupled to the 1923 Locomotive “Sarah Siddons”, which provided a viewing platform for lucky guests and to wagons carrying water and coal.

The test run was from Earl’s Court via the District Line to Edgware Road and then on to Baker Street. All went well for the first steam train run on the Underground in over 40 years. Take a look at the test video below: