THE Severn Valley Railway has narrowly failed to smash a new record for the annual number of passengers travelling along the preservation line from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster.
Press officer David Wilcock said this week that the total for 2009 would be about 248,000 – around 4,000 short of the 2005 record.
“We have not quite got all the passenger returns in, but it looks as though the weather has done us at the last gasp,” he said. “We had hoped to get to 250,000 and to do that we needed an average of just 130 passengers a day from Boxing Day until January 3, but we didn’t quite make it.
“During the December run-in to Christmas we had some 35,000 passengers travelling on the ‘Santa Special’ trains, ‘Santa Herald’ diesel trains, Christmas dining trains and Christmas carol trains.
“It has been a really good year – we had 248,647 passengers in 2002 and then about 252,000 in 2005. We have done well in a recession by any yardstick; the Severn Valley Railway delivers an excellent product with all the right ingredients.
“People do not need to go out for a whole day to enjoy it, it is not hugely expensive, we have got nostalgia at the SVR and there are nearby attractions,” he explained.
Mr Wilcock added that the Engine House at Highley – the loco museum opened by the Duke of Gloucester – was now a major attraction with a stream of visitors.
Trains are now running from Kidderminster to Highley only, because of engineering work at Hampton Loade.
“This follows a slow-speed derailment at the autumn gala,” explained Mr Wilcock. “The top half of the track land is being taken off and the formation relaid which will take about a month.”
Weekend services from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster will resume in February until the half-term holiday when there will be nine consecutive days of trains. The SVR will then revert to a weekend timetable before the full 2010 service starts at Easter.