A BIG cake and music marked the third birthday of the Romsey to Totton rail-link.

Passengers who boarded two special trains - the Jazz and Folk - were offered pieces of celebratory cake and treated to live music as they travelled through Hampshire's countryside and urban landscape.

Chandler's Ford and Romsey Rail Action Group staged Sunday's event in conjunction with South West Trains, which operates the service.

One train had Halterworth All Stars Jazz Band on board and the other a folk group. More than 100 people travelled on the special music trains, said joint co-ordinator of the rail action group Mike Franklin.

"Despite the awful weather, we had a lot of people travel on the trains and they had lots of fun. Some of the youngest passengers had several pieces of the birthday cake. The cake had three candles on it. We had 400 pieces of cake altogether and it all went. It was a good event and we are definitely going to do things like this again. The musicians loved it as well as the passengers. Andy McKenzie from the folk band told me he'd never enjoyed himself so much on a train. We'd like to thank Phil Dominey and Dave Gaudoin from South West Trains for allowing us to celebrate on the trains," said Mike, whose fellow campaigner Nick Farthing was on the Jazz train.

Mike said that when the service is extended from Romsey to Salisbury in December, 2007, it was hoped to celebrate in a similar manner.

"We talked to people on the trains about what they wanted from the Chandler's Ford to Romsey rail service. We want to turn Chandler's Ford and Romsey Rail Action into a partnership with local councils. We are not a campaign group. Having saved the rail link, we now just want to promote the service and make it even more popular," added Mike.

Sunday's celebrations came just months after it was announced the Romsey to Totton link had been saved from closure.