A ROCK musician has unveiled a new train named after a pirate radio station from the '60s following a ceremony at a Maldon museum.
Rick Wakeman, a solo artist, composer, and former keyboardist of progressive-rock band Yes, visited Mangapps Railway Museum, in Burnham-on-Crouch, on Sunday.
Hundreds of music fans and train enthusiasts attended a special event which saw Rick pull down a red curtain to unveil a new 126-ton class 31 mainline train named Radio Caroline.
The train is specifically named after the pirate radio station founded by Ronan O’Rahilly and Alan Crawford in 1964. The station is still going strong today as a licensed UK broadcaster.
Radio Caroline’s station manager, Peter Moore, was delighted a locomotive had been named after it.
He said: “We are honoured to have such a magnificent locomotive named after Radio Caroline.
“It was built in 1959 and worked out of London Liverpool Street Station, so it may well have hauled the trains that took the likes of Johnnie Walker and Tony Blackburn to Harwich in the 60s, from where they would attempt to get out to our pirate radio ship ‘Mi Amigo’ under the radar of the authorities.”
The diesel train is now part of a large collection of locomotives on display at the museum.
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