TOMORROW at precisely 12.43pm will be the 50th anniversary of when the last steam train from London Waterloo chugged out of Salisbury station heading to Exeter.

The West Country Class engine named Exmouth was packed with around 400 railway enthusiasts who had travelled from all parts of the country to be a part of the sentimental journey.

Many had come laden with camera equipment and notebooks to record the special moment.

The train, driven by Jack Terry, left Waterloo at 9.20am and arrived in Salisbury via Guildford and Eastleigh. From Salisbury to Exeter Central the journey was made non-stop at speeds touching 60mph.

Before the start Mr Terry, who lived in Salisbury and had nearly 49 years experience working on the railways, allowed many of the passengers to look over his cab.

Then he and his fireman Richard Cottrell answered questions from schoolchildren to pensioners.

Profits from the excursion were given to the Southern Railwaymen’s Home for Children at Woking.

The farewell to steam came at a time of great upheaval on Britain’s railways.

A plan by Dr Richard Beeching in 1963, known as the Beeching Axe, led to the closure of nearly 55 per cent of train stations across the country including the one in Wilton.

In an effort to modernise the railways the government started to withdraw steam locomotives from service during the late 1950s.

They were replaced by diesel engines with the last British Railways steam train running in 1968.