THE Beatles released Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and hippies were celebrating free love in San Francisco during the Summer of Love - 1967.

It was also when the last steam trains ran between Dorset and London.

To mark the 40th anniversary the Swanage Railway is organising a steam gala and the star guest is a rare class of locomotive not seen in Purbeck since the Summer of Love.

It was on Sunday July 9, 1967 that the last steam trains ran on the main line between London Waterloo and Weymouth. The following day they were replaced by push-pull' diesel, and later, electric trains.

No-one thought steam locomotives would return to Dorset but the dedication of Swanage Railway volunteers - who started relaying the Purbeck Line in 1975 - has led to thousands of enthusiasts being able to enjoy a ride back in time.

The end of Southern steam gala will see seven locomotives operating a train service between Norden and Swanage over the weekend July 7-9.

They include a BR Standard Class 4 2-6-0 No 76079 which last worked the line in 1967 and is on loan from Riley and Son.

The other visiting engines are a Caprotti Standard Class 5 4-6-0 No 73129 from the Midland Railway Centre, Second World War USA Yankee Tank' look-alike No 30075 from the East Somerset Railway and Battle of Britain' class Bulleid Pacific No 34081 92 Squadron' visiting from the North Norfolk Railway.

They will join the Swanage Railway's resident locomotives - two ex-BR Standard Class 4 tanks No 80078 and No. 80104 and Dugald Drummond M7 tank No 30053.

The railway's general manager Nick Brown said: "It is hoped that one of the visiting locomotives will be coming into Purbeck by rail.

"If that historic event does happen it will be the first time since June 1967 that a steam locomotive has run on the line from Wareham to Swanage."

He added: "This will be a very nostalgic event with the public having the chance to delight in seven steam locomotives doing what they were designed and built for."