HALE station welcomed a special visitor on Saturday when The Cheshireman (pictured) made an unscheduled stop there.

The steam excursion train was en route to Chester via Sheffield when a problem with the level crossing barriers on Ashley Road - they wouldn’t close - presented Hale resident David Butterfield with the perfect photo opportunity.

The recently restored London Midland and Scottish Railway’s Class 5 steam locomotive, almost universally known as the Black Five, was built to an original design by William Stanier in 1934 and is regularly operational on the East Lancashire Railway.