CELEBRATIONS were held to mark the 75th birthday of Didcot Railway Centre's GWR diesel railcar.

The railway heritage centre, behind Didcot Parkway Railway Station, celebrated the milestone at the weekend with a gala event for all the family with cake and champagne.

Frank Dumbleton, who works at the centre, said: “We had a good crowd. We have been celebrating the 75 years of our diesel railcar "First Great Western sent down a 1984 Class 150 – what they call a sprinter – to display and we ran another diesel train as well.

"We had the cutting of the birthday cake and we had Champagne.”

The 75-year-old railcar is the only GWR railcar that is currently operational, out of a total of 38 built between 1933 and 1942.

Visitors could have a look round the railcar's passenger saloon and ride the two open saloons which hold up to 48 passengers on the Number 22 and has two driving cabs at each end.

It is powered by two AEC 9.6 litre, direct injection six cylinder engines through a Wilson epicyclic gearbox.

Among the festivities was a pop-up bar provided by Loose Cannon Brewery from Abingdon. and a cleaning party was also held on Friday to get the 75-year-old railcar spruced up ready for celebrations.

Helping clean up for the event was 10-year-old Yvonne Gay, daughter of volunteer Jackie Gay, she said: “I find it [the cleaning] fun but it is rather tough when you try and get to the top of the train.”

The railcar began service in Newport, South Wales, in 1940 before chugging around Reading, Worcester and the Severn Valley line.

Withdrawn from service in 1962, the railcar was stored and preserved before ending up in Didcot in 1978.