A LONG-RUNNING legal dispute over a steam engine that ran on a Hampshire steam railway has been settled after six years.

Owners of the Franklin Roosevelt engine were suing the Mid Hants Rail-way (MHR) that operates the Alresford-based Watercress Line.

In a jointly-agreed statement, they said: “The owners of the S160 Franklin Roosevelt (71340) and the MHR are pleased that they have been able to arrive at a mutually satisfactory settlement to the litigation commenced in 2007.

“The settlement terms provide for agreed payments to be made by the MHR to the claimants without admission of any liability and for the lifting of such bans from the railway as have previously been imposed against some or all of the claimants.”

It said the locomotive is under overhaul away from the railway and a decision on its future operation had yet to be taken.

Claimants’ lawyers declined to comment. The MHR was invited to but had not responded by the time of going to press.