Newstead will be reintroduced to the public this weekend. (Image: North Norfolk Railway)
A steam train that was found hidden in the grounds of a convent is set to be unveiled this weekend and will begin making trips again this year. The locomotive was missing for 45 years and was believed to be lost, but it was found in 2016 at a Carmelite convent near Ware, Hertfordshire. It will begin operation again this weekend, being reintroduced to the public at Sheringham Station. There will be a ceremony there at 10.30pm before the train, called Newstead, departs along the Poppy Line towards Holt.
The train’s re-entry into service marks the 50th anniversary of the Poppy Line. The engine of Newstead was thought to have been destroyed in the 70s until it was found. It then took eight years to overhaul the train and make it functional again. It was originally withdrawn from service in 1971, and upon hearing this, Malcolm James Saul acquired the engine and kept it on a small plot of land near where he worked as a gardener at the local convent.
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The train coming back marks 50 years of the scenic Poppy Line. (Image: North Norfolk Railway)
He soon built a shed around it to protect it and planted trees in front of it. Since then, it has been largely forgotten and considered lost until rumours started after Sal’s death in 2015.
It was then rescued by locomotive owner Alex Alder and work on restoring it began. “I never thought I would be driven down a Hertfordshire country lane, following a wild tip off about a lost engine,” he said.
“I could never have imagined taking tea and biscuits with one of Mother Superior at a convent, and hearing of ‘Malcolm’s engine’!” The train is set to complete three round trips of the line throughout Saturday to celebrate the train’s return.
Alder continued: “I fully expected to see a rusty 5” gauge model. But there, quite impossibly, beneath a thin layer of dust, was the unmistakable lines of a 16” Hunslet. Thanks to the late Malcolm Saul, she had been well cared for and given an overhaul in the early 90s. I gained a sense of debt toward Malcom Saul for saving and preserving the engine so well, and a sense of duty that his good care should be continued.
“Restoring the engine has been a labour of love for the past 8 years, and I am thrilled she will be joining the running fleet at the North Norfolk Railway – it was childhood visits to the line that sparked my interest in steam and engineering.”
Meanwhile, North Norfolk Railway General Manager, Graham Hukins, added: “Alex and his team have done an outstanding job in restoring Newstead and we’re looking forward to her being part of our fleet, especially in our 50th Anniversary year where she will help conjure up the spirit of the early years of preservation when the service was handled entirely by small tank engines.”
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Expert: people smuggler ‘summer deals’ will be used to lure migrants into record UK surge
Migrants attempt Channel crossing ahead of new French policing measures (Image: Getty)
July is on course to be the busiest month ever for migrant Channel crossings, as ruthless smuggling gangs entice would-be asylum seekers with cut-price “summer deals” reports The Telegraph.
Already, 2,378 people have made the treacherous journey to Britain in small boats in just the first 12 days of this month – a pace that would smash all previous records if it continues. The surge marks a 57 per cent rise on the same period last year, when 1,711 people crossed.
So far in 2025, 22,360 migrants – largely from the Middle East, East Africa and Vietnam – have arrived on UK shores. The Telegraph’s analysis of Border Force data suggests July could see 6,143 crossings in total, setting a new monthly record which Reform leader Nigel Farage has said is down to French police not only failing to act, but behaving like a “taxi service” for small boat migrants heading to the UK.
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Smuggling gangs, now described as “increasingly professionalised”, are targeting specific nationalities such as Eritreans and Albanians with offers of passage for as little as £2,000 – discounts of up to 50 per cent.
Social media platforms are being used to advertise these offers directly to migrants, sometimes even offering special rates to those prepared to steer the dinghies themselves.
Dr Peter Walsh, of The Migration Observatory, said prices are “dynamic”, with deals struck for individuals claiming boating experience. “There was this big increase in Eritreans crossing… anecdotal evidence suggested they had offered a lower rate that made it more affordable,” he said.
Smugglers have also changed their methods, launching pre-inflated “taxi boats” from inland waterways and canals that feed into the sea, allowing them to evade French police. The boats often hug the coastline, picking up migrants waiting in the water out of reach of authorities.
In Gravelines, a French seaside town tied to the River Aa, The Telegraph observed two such launches this week. Local officials estimate as many as 300 migrants can be smuggled through there in a single day.
According to Dr Walsh, enforcement agencies are at a disadvantage. “Law enforcement has to follow the rules of the law and that is a substantial disadvantage… they are highly adaptable,” he said.
Smugglers have also been inflating boats in forests and dunes, pushing them out through inlets and rivers before law enforcement can intervene.
