Talyllyn Railway's Douglas the RAF blue engine to go off the rails for special events

Talyllyn Railway’s locomotive will be travelling to three special events during its centenary year including the RAF Cosford Air Show.

It will be a static exhibit at the show on June 10.The RAF’s only official air show attracts around 60,000 people.

Talyllyn Railway’s general manager, Stuart Williams, said: “With the centenaries of locomotive No.6 and the RAF coinciding, it seemed right that the two should be celebrated together at various points during the year.

"We were delighted to accept the invitation from RAF Cosford to take Douglas to this year’s air show and allow many people the pleasure of seeing this locomotive up close for themselves.”

The locomotive was painted RAF traffic blue in recognition of its work for the air force.

It was constructed at Andrew Barclay Sons and Co. in Kilmarnock as a 2ft gauge 0-4-0 tank locomotive originally for use at the Royal Naval Flying Corps airfield at Manston in Kent.

A few weeks later, on April 1, 1918, the Royal Air Force was formed and the airfield became RAF Manston, beginning the locomotive’s connection with the RAF.

It was transferred to RAF Calshot, the RAF’s sea plane base in the Solent, in 1921, working there until the line closed in 1945.

In the autumn Douglas will be on its travels again, this time to Yorkshire to visit the North Yorkshire Moors Railway at a special autumn gala from September 28-30 when it will be on show with other locomotives celebrating the railway's centenary and again commemorating the 100th anniversary of the RAF.

The locomotive will remain on the Moors line to take part in their Railway in Wartime weekend between October 12-14, when again there will be a special RAF theme. It will be reunited with former Talyllyn Railway general manager, Chris Price, himself an ex-RAF serviceman, who is now the general manager at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.