Full steam ahead as 8,500 people board new Severn Valley Railway spectacle
It's full steam ahead at the Severn Valley Railway as a month's worth of tickets for a new illuminative experience are near selling out in little over a week.
Around 8,500 people have bought a ticket for Steam in Lights, which sees the railway in Bridgnorth and its locomotives light up the sky and take passengers on a trip along the line to Highley and back.
Running on certain days throughout December, the event's weekend trips have already had additional trains added to help meet demand.
Visitors follow an illuminated path down to the station and through a tunnel of lights to the platform, where hot food and drinks are available.
Festive music fills the carriages of a gloomy locomotive as it rolls into the station before an eye-widening display is switched on and the train glows with spectacular colour.
Passengers are guided to their seat before a narrator warns of mysterious looking creatures, 'Christmas Cacklers', to look out for along the journey.
Lisa Palmer, SVR sales manager, said the event is outperforming expectation and plans to develop it for next year are already in motion.
She said: “Steam in Lights has been a tremendous success so far – in fact, tickets for the weekend services sold out so fast that we had to add more Saturday trains to meet the demand.
"We are now almost entirely sold out, which means we’ll be welcoming around 8,500 passengers on board the service this Christmas.
“We’ve had so much positive feedback from passengers and it has been an absolute delight to see the expressions of excitement and awe on people’s faces as their steam train suddenly lights-up with dazzling colour.
"It’s been such a success that we are already planning next year’s services."
The only remaining tickets for Steam in Lights are for a select few trains with only one seat left on each.
For more information, visit svr.co.uk.
