Steam train 'like mythical Egyptian tomb' now running through English countryside

A steam engine which sounds like a “mythical Egyptian tomb" was re-discovered after it was thought to be lost to time. Now it has found a new resting place on the coast after an almost decade long refurbishment.

The industrial steam engine known as "Newstead" found in a convent has started a new chapter on the coast.

The 1929 vehicle was found in a Carmelite convent near Ware, Hertfordshire, in 2016. On Saturday it re-entered service at the North Norfolk Railway in Sheringham on Saturday after a nine-year refurbishment.

Alex Alder, the owner of the locomotive, told the BBC: "After nine years of efforts, for the very first time ever she pulled passenger trains. It was absolutely incredible." Alex said discovering the engine was like hearing "of a mythical Egyptian tomb".

In 1929 the locomotive rolled off the production line of the Hunslet Engine Company in Leeds, according to North Norfolk Railway. The 96-year-old locomotive was withdrawn from service by the National Coal Board in 1972.

The vintage train was purchased in the late 1970s by vintage vehicle collector Malcolm Saul, who built a shed around the steam train to protect it from the elements.

After Malcolm died in 2015, people assumed the engine was lost to history until it was miraculously uncovered once more. "I fully never expected to be driven down a Hertfordshire country lane, following a wild tip off about a lost engine. I could never have imagined taking tea and biscuits with [a] mother superior at a convent, and hearing of 'Malcolm's engine'.

"But there it was in this convent in Hertfordshire, 39 tons of miracle," he added. Alex said it cost him about £200,000 to restore the locomotive, taking a team of volunteers about nine years to overhaul.

North Norfolk Railway said it will use the engine to pull passenger carriages from Sheringham to Holt. Graham Hukins, the general manager of North Norfolk Railway, said it was "absolutely wonderful" to see the engine running in Sheringham.

"The engine that was stuck in a nunnery, lost for years, everyone thought it had been scrapped. This weekend is the very first time it has been paired with passenger carriages, and it is an absolute delight to have it join our working fleet."

He said "to be part of that tale and to see her back in working order" was special as they celebrated 50-years of running trains at North Norfolk Railway.