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A47 steam engine towing three vehicles stopped at 5mph

@NSRAPT Traction engine at side of A47@NSRAPT
Police blocked out identifying marks on the traction engine they pulled over

The driver of a traction engine towing a long load was pulled over after holding up traffic at 5mph (8km/h) on a busy main road.

The engine was towing a vintage caravan, a 4x4 and a trailer on the A47 near Trowse, Norfolk, on Monday.

Police said traffic had been held up as the engine had been travelling so slowly on its 40-mile (65km) journey.

"This amazing piece of engineering [was] towing an 'odd' combination of three 'trailers'," officers noted.

Posting about it on Twitter, officers from the Norfolk and Suffolk Roads Policing Unit described this as "a different sort of stop" for their team.

@NSRAPT Traction engine and load at side of A47@NSRAPT
The traction engine had quite a following on its tow bars

Police said they pulled the engine over on the westbound A47 between Postwick and Trowse "in poor weather conditions" at about midday on Monday.

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It was travelling from Strumpshaw to Great Ellingham, and was only eight miles into its 40-mile journey, but was already holding up the traffic on the busy dual carriageway, they said.

The locomotive was pulling a vintage caravan, which was towing a Land Rover Discovery, which in turn was towing a twin-axle trailer.

"The driver was allowed to continue the journey, with the Land Rover being used as an escort vehicle rather than being towed," a police spokesman said.

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