Hundreds of people descended on Folkestone Harbour on Saturday to enjoy the sight and sound of a steam pounding up the railway line.

The harbour branch has been under threat of closure for several years and there have been several “last” trains run up it.

This was never billed as the last, but it was still a magnificent sight as streamlined Bulleid light pacific Tangmere thrashed up the steepest adhesion worked main line in Britain.

Dressed up as if it was hauling The Golden Arrow – an express train that once carried passengers from London to Paris – Tangmere ran up and down the harbour branch twice, delighting passengers and onlookers, who packed the bridge over the line and Tram Road.

A class 47 provided vital assistance at the rear, as even Tangmere would not have made it up the hill on its own.

Its last trip up the branch was slightly delayed, but it was found a path and continued its circuit of east Kent, via Canterbury and Whitstable.

The Remembrance Line association is campaigning to keep the railway line from the former Folkestone East to the harbour open and has been forging links with rail charter companies, encouraging more tours to use the branch.

Steam locomotive Oliver Cromwell, a Britannia, is visiting the line on March 14 with another special.