RAIL fans should keep their eyes peeling this Friday as a classic steam train is set to travel through Whitchurch and Wem.

The train is likely to be a LMS 'Black 5' 45231, known as Sherwood Forester and will pass through Whitchurch on Friday April 2 at around 10.30am.

On their Facebook page, Wem Civic Society gave fans the notice ahead of the train's expected arrival.

A spokesman for the society said: "There is a private, unadvertised express train passing through Wem this Friday, April 2, at around 10:42am.

"This is a locomotive and stock move by Locomotive Services Limited from Crewe to Carmarthen for crew training purposes rather than a rail-tour, so it won't have passengers and is unaffected by social distancing.

"The locomotive is booked to be ex-LMS 'Black 5' 45231, now named 'Sherwood Forester', and may have a class 40 rather than the more usual class 47 diesel as back-up locomotive.

"Because this service is unadvertised and isn't running to a passenger timetable, the time for passing Wem is a schedule, not a guaranteed time, so keep an eye on the Realtime Trains page for 1Z30, which can be found at www.realtimetrains.co.uk/.../2021-04-02/detailed

"The following day, the locomotive will run from Carmarthen to Gloucester via the South Wales main line, and 45231 will return from there to Crewe via Birmingham and Stafford while the stock gets taken to Bristol, so it's not coming back this way."