An historic steam locomotive is coming to Stevenage and Hitchin this weekend, providing the perfect opportunity for train spotters.

A Black 5 No. 44871 steam locomotive will be picking up passengers at Stevenage at 8.25am on Saturday, as part of The Railway Touring Company's White Rose trip from London’s King’s Cross to York.

Further up the line, the train will pass through Hitchin at 8.31am.

"We leave London King’s Cross in the morning behind Black 5 and follow the East Coast Main Line route of famous express trains like the Flying Scotsman," reads The Railways Touring Company website.

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"We storm up the gradient through Gasworks Tunnel and Finsbury Park, and northwards, calling at Stevenage, Huntingdon and Peterborough to pick up more passengers.

"Our steam locomotive then tackles the 15-mile climb up the famous Stoke Bank. Here on July 3, 1938, Mallard, an A4 class Pacific, achieved a world record speed of 126mph when travelling in the opposite direction.

"Once over the summit we should have a good, fast run down the 20-mile descent to the Trent Valley and on through Grantham, Newark and Retford. We steam through Doncaster and continue northwards to our early afternoon arrival in York."

Black 5 No. 44871 was built in Crewe in 1945, and was part of the Fifteen Guinea Special in 1968, the last main-line passenger train to be hauled by steam locomotive power on British Rail.

In 2010, 44871 made a TV appearance in an episode of Coronation Street, where she hauled Roy and Hayley Cropper's wedding train.