SOLDIERS went full steam ahead putting their weight into pulling 90 tons of steel in order to raise money for charity.

Sixty soldiers aged 17 to 28 from the 11 Signal Regiment of the Royal Corps Signals based at Blandford raised £2,000 by hauling two 90 tonne steam locomotives along 500 metres of track at Swanage station.

The ex-British Railway tank steam locomotives landed on the scrap heap in Wales in the 1960s but were restored back to full working order for hauling passenger trains on the six-mile Swanage Railway.

The proceeds from the event were split between the Swanage hospital A and E Unit Appeal, Pimperne First School at Blandford and the Florida Dolphin Research Centre in the United States of America, which uses therapeutic swimming with dolphins to help disabled children.

The event was organised by Warrant Officer First Class Frank Roberts, commander of the Ulster troop at Blandford camp, who is a working volunteer with the Swanage railway.

He said: "Two soldiers with the Royal Corps of Signals have disabled children, one of whom attends Pimperne First School and the other has benefited from the Florida Dolphin Research Centre, so we thought it appropriate to raise money for the two causes."