IT WAS full steam ahead for the Duke of Gloucester today when he reopened the £3million newly-refurbished Bury Transport Museum.

He arrived at the East Lancashire Railway’s Castlecroft building on the footplate of a steam locomotive.

The Duke toured the museum, containing more than two dozen vehicles from yesteryear, and unveiled a plaque.

Bury Transport Museum, housed in a grade two listed building dating back to 1848, closed in 2003 after concerns about the condition of its roof. It has reopened after undergoing a major two-year, £3million restoration. Funding was secured from various sources.

The Duke said: “This gives people a personal link with the past which otherwise they would not have had.”

Later, he officially opened the £700,000 Bury Black Pudding Company factory at Heap Bridge, run by businesswoman Debbie Pierce