VISITORS to Didcot's railway centre were transported back to Victorian times as part of anniversary celebrations.

Staff and volunteers held a special steam gala event over the bank holiday weekend to mark 175 years since the Great Western Railway network was opened between London and Bristol.

Locomotives were rolled out on the tracks and there were demonstrations on how signalling systems were operated more than a century ago.

Railway centre manager Roger Orchard said: "It's been a really good weekend and we have been very lucky with the weather.

"We have had great visitor figures and people have left a lot of good comments about what has been going on.

"There is obviously a very strong Victorian element to the weekend so we dedicated a big part of the centre to that as well."

Visitors were also able to learn from "Victorian" actors and find out what it was like to travel one of the earliest Great Western Railway trains.

Later this month the centre will be holding another steam day, this time combined with the Real Ale Festival.

Between May 28 to 30 there will be more visiting locomotives, and weather permitting a flypast by a Dakota plane.