A locomotive is set to recreate a train journey made through Oxford 60 years ago to say farewell to steam power.

Clun Castle, an 80-tonne engine, will haul the Great Western 1Z48 from Birmingham's Snow Hill station, stopping at Oxford and travelling through to Bristol before concluding in Plymouth.

The next day, the journey will continue to London Paddington, before a diesel engine takes over for the return to Birmingham.

A spokesman for Vintage Trains, who are organising the journey for May 10 and 11, said: “We will be travelling back in time to recreate one of the final steam journeys during the days of British Rail.

"Clun Castle, one of the Western Region's crack express locos, hauled the train on that occasion in May, 1964.

"It reached a top speed of 96mph, notching up the fastest ever non-stop run between the cities in two hours, 13 minutes and nine seconds.

“And the driver Henry Roach reckoned that if he had been allowed he could easily have topped 100mph.”

The Clun Castle, originally built in 1950, was the last of British Rail's Castle Class engines to be withdrawn from service.

After pulling the final scheduled steam trains from Birmingham's Snow Hill and Moor Street stations, and London Paddington, it was sold for scrap in 1966 but later saved and restored by railway enthusiasts.