The age of steam travel is returning to Helston for the first time in more than half a century.

Helston Railway has begun the new year by announcing that 2018 will see the first steam passenger train in more than 55 years on the town's former branch line.

Revealing the news on Facebook, the group, which has been patiently restoring sections of the track over the last decade, said it was "thrilled" that this would be the year that members' long-held ambition would be realised.

The tourist attraction at Prospidnick Halt is currently closed for the winter, following a series of Christmas open days for families, but will reopen on March 18 for the new season.

Volunteers have been busy restoring steam locomotive William Murdoch over the last year and the plan is that the engine will be able to pull its first passengers this spring.

The news has prompted a delighted response from railway enthusiasts in the area, with one person writing: "It's great to see the progress being made at this gem of a railway."

Another wrote: "It really is a breathtaking rate of progress that you are sustaining. 'Well done' just doesn't seem adequate at all."

Up to this point, visitors have been able to ride up and down the track in a brake van, but a ride in an engine-drawn carriage will be something new.

Around one mile of the former branch line track has now been re-laid, from Prospidnick Halt to Truthall Halt near Sithney.

The group has big plans ultimately to continue restoration work further south, within a few years, to Water-Ma-Trout in Helston, which would also include restoring the old Cober Viaduct.