45596 Bahamas steam train pictured passing through Herefordshire

45596 Bahamas is back on the mainline this week for the first time in 2022 as it takes part in the Great Britain tour.

The train was seen passing through Herefordshire as it travelled from Grange-over-Sands in Cumbria to Cardiff Central in South Wales.

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It passed through stations including Ludlow, Leominster and Hereford during the tour on Wednesday (April 27).

45596 Bahamas at Hereford train station. Picture: James Rippard/Hereford Times Camera Club

The 45596 was constructed in 1934 by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow for the London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS).

It was a standard Jubilee Class locomotive, designed by William Stanier, the chief mechanical engineer of the LMS.

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In June 1936, 45596 received the name Bahamas after the West Indian islands in the Atlantic Ocean which were part of the British Empire.

The Bahamas was saved from being turned into scrap after several members of the public came together to attempt to purchase it with the hope of using the locomotive to operate special excursion trains.

The trains passed through stations including Ludlow, Leominster and Hereford. Picture: James Rippard/Hereford Times Camera Club

British Rail showed a lack of enthusiasm when it was approached by the preservation society as the group encountered great difficulty in raising the funds.

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In early 1967, British Rail had agreed the sale of Bahamas to a scrap merchant in Hull.

But the society had enough money, largely due to the offer of a sympathetic businessman of a £3,000 loan to cover the purchase, and high-level intervention within British Rail resulted in the sale to the Bahamas Locomotive Society – in the hands of which it remains.