The Mayflower steam excursion.

I took this photograph of these two historic steam engines working in tandem, pulling the Mayflower chartered excursion. Here in Great Britain, we had a long history of steam-powered trains, which ended in the nineteen sixties. Over time these trains were sent to the breakers yard to be cut up for scrap.

The loss of our steam heritage led to groups of people banding together to rescue these trains and restore them to working order. Some of these groups also purchased stretched former branch lines closed during this time of restructuring, starting their own privately owned heritage railways.

Others restored larger steam engines applied and gained permission to run steam excursions on the country's main lines, working between regular services. These two engines ran a tour from London to Plymouth to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower, sailing from Plymouth in 1620 to America with the founding fathers.

This trip was supposed to have taken place last year, 2020. With the outbreak of Covid-19, it was cancelled and rescheduled for this year.