The March Society held its first live event since the Covid-19 pandemic with a face-masked, socially distanced audience in March library.

Local March man and coordinator of the B17 preservation trust, Peter Wright, gave a ‘fascinating’ and ‘very enjoyable’ talk about the B17 Steam Locomotive.

Peter said: “The B17 was originally designed in 1923 for use in East Anglia. The engines were strong, fast and began service in 1929.

“They operated mainly on routes in the East England region and routes to London. One of the B17 routes was through March.”

A B17 charitable trust (patron Sir Rod Stewart) has now been set up with the objective of using modern materials and techniques to build a new B17.

The target is to have it built by 2029 and it will be named ‘Spirit of Sandringham’.

At the end of his talk, Peter displayed information boards and an array of B17 related goods for sale to support the charity.