HUNDREDS of visitors - many in period costume - made a beeline to the Mid Hants Railway’s Watercress Line last weekend.

The occasion was the annual War on the Line event, which provides an opportunity for visitors to immerse themselves in life on the Home Front in the 1940s.

This year’s event had an American twist with a flavour of the events leading up to the D-Day landings.

It featured military re-enactments, period displays, vintage vehicles, retro market stalls and singing and dancing to wartime music at every station, with majestic engines in full steam along the line between Alton and Alresford.

Many visitors commented on how much they had enjoyed the event.

A spokesman for the railway said: “We had a brilliant event with many people of all ages joining in the nostalgic spirit and transported back in time, experiencing what railway life was like during the Second World War.

“Local Alresford businesses also immersed themselves in the event by dressing their shop window displays with an ‘Americans in Alresford’ theme.”

And the Mid-Hants Railway spokesman added: “The weekend was a huge success and we are pleased that so many people came and got involved.”