YOUNG train enthusiasts have marked the two-month countdown to the Autumn Great Gathering at the National Railway Museum in York.

Following on from the first Great Gathering event in July, six A4 Pacific Class locomotives will return to the museum on October 26 to mark the 75th anniversary of the A4 Mallard breaking the world steam speed record.

Anthony Coulls, senior curator of railway vehicles, said: “Our Great Gathering exhibitions celebrate British engineering at its best.

“We’re hoping more families will be able to come and see Mallard and her sisters.”

The event will be the final chance for trainspotters to see the “big six” in York before they head off to Shildon for the Great Goodbye event in February.

The locomotives are Mallard, Dominion Of Canada, Dwight D Eisenhower, Union Of South Africa, Bittern and Sir Nigel Gresley.

With a series of new events, including a 1930s themed evening extravaganza, the Autumn Great Gathering will take place in the museum’s Great Hall until November 8.