A 150-year-old steam locomotive that has been restored in Bream will take its place alongside some of Britain’s most famous engines at a celebration of a milestone in railway history.

Great Eastern Railway engine number 229 – known as ‘The Coffee Pot’ because of the shape of its water tanks – has been restored at The Flour Mill Works.

Next month it will be transported to Darlington for the 200th anniversary of the world’s first rail passenger journey.

On Saturday, September 27 it will take it place alongside Locomotion – which pulled that first train between Darlington and Stockton 200 years to the day and other famous locomotives.

Mr Bill Parker, who runs The Flour Mill, said: “There will be our little engine which weighs less than 20 tons and Flying Scotsman and Blue Peter which weigh over 100 tons.”

The Coffee Pot was built by Neilson’s in Scotland in 1876 for the Great Eastern Railway, and after more than 40 years service in East Anglia and London it was sold to the National Shipyard being built in Beachley at the end of the First World War. It worked there through the Second World War into the late 1950s, after which it was stored outside.

It was bought in 1982 from Chepstow engineering firm Fairfield Mabey by Mr Parker and his brother along with another engine that had also been brought to Chepstow for the National Shipyard.

He said: “It will be 150 in March next year so we decided that we would finish it in time for its 150th birthday and for the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the railways and we've been working like mad to do it.

“We've done little bits here and there over the years but the problem was the boiler

“It needed a lot of work, and we’ve always been busy with other people’s boilers, so we kept putting that off.

“But as September 27, 2025, got closer and closer, we realised we had to pull our finger out and crack on.

“The boiler has now been hydraulically tested, so we know the work we’ve done is sound.

“We are quietly confident now that we'll be there.”

The engine will be painted with its livery from around 1900.

Mr Parker added: “After Darlington, we're planning to bring it back to the Flour Mill and bling it up in time for its birthday.

“ Perhaps we can have a party for it in Lydney!”

The Flour Mill is based in a listed building that was once used to generate electricity for the colliery of the same name which was converted to a railway workshop in 1995-1996,

It has been a operational as a workshop since 1996 repairing and overhauling steam locomotives.

Railway 200 is a year-long celebration highlighting how rail transport shaped national life and continues to so.

As part of the celebrations, the Dean Forest Railway has been running special “Forest Flyer 200” trains using one of its heritage diesel multiple units.