RAIL enthusiasts hoping to run a steam railway between Ludgershall and Andover will learn more about the viability of their plans on Monday.

A team from the joint committee set up by Ludgershall and Andover town councils are meeting with a representative of the rail industry to glean more information and build relationships. With Network Rail and South West Trains.

The initial plans involve running special chartered services between the two towns on a railway line already in place and currently used only occasionally for military traffic to reach a depot in Ludgershall.

Passenger services on this line ended 50 years ago but Cllr David Drew hopes that the group might be able to start up with a taster session.

He said: “We will be looking at is the possibilty of running chartered excursions and that could happen over a weekend as early as next year. You have a track, you put on some trains, then you have people involved and it b