Snow halts ‘Santa specials’
Safety concerns put profits on ice as railways cancel ‘Santa specials’.
Traditionally, it’s the most lucrative time of year for the UK’s steam railways, when family groups in their hundreds of thousands pour onto pre-Christmas ‘Santa’ trains. But heavy overnight snowfall on Saturday December 9 across a vast swathe of the country, from the Home Counties through the West Midlands and into Wales, forced many railways to abandon their Sunday Santa train programmes, and hand back tens of thousands of pounds in refunds to those who had pre-booked seats. For many lines, treacherous road conditions and road closures prevented volunteers – the lifeblood of any Santa trains operation – from reaching their railways. Others had their locomotives steamed up and heated coaching stock ready to roll – but with close to 12 inches of snow on the roads in some parts and more continuing to fall, many passengers were simply unable to reach their destinations. From before first light on ‘Snow Sunday’ through to breakfast time, one by one the steam railways were forced into the unavoidable decision to cancel their trains for the day, announcing the disappointing news though social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, via local radio stations, their own web pages, direct email, and in some cases, by making hundreds of telephone calls to passengers, advising them not to travel. The common theme behind the decision not to run was, in almost every case, the safety of both passengers and volunteers. Among the worst-hit lines was the Severn Valley Railway which, it was estimated, would be refunding around 50% of the 4,220 passengers who had booked to ‘see Santa’ on Sunday December 10 – a financial hit expected to cost the railway between £30,000 and £35,000. For the day’s 13 pre-booked trains, the SVR had six engines lined up and ready to run – Bulleid ‘Pacifics’ Nos. 34027 Taw Valley and 34053 Sir Keith Park, GWR 4-6-0 No. 7802 Bradley Manor, Ivatt ‘Flying Pig’ No. 43106, the on-loan ‘Standard 4’ tank No. 80072 (from Llangollen), with GWR pannier tank No. 7714 as standby engine. But the SVR was ‘up against it’ from the start, staff waking up to discover that Arley, location of the railway’s six ‘Santa’s grottos’ was without electricity, and that a standby generator could only power the lights in two of the grottos. An early morning sweep of the line by diesel also found that two trees had come down across the track near Country Park Halt, Highley, though this had no significant effect upon proposed operations. Marketing Manager Clare Gibbard told Steam Railway: “We didn’t want to cancel the day’s operations in haste and then realise that we’d made the wrong call. We had arranged a conference call for 7am Sunday morning, but I think we all knew when we looked out of our windows that it was bad everywhere – and the forecast was saying it would snow all day. “There was six inches on the ground throughout the railway, and at Bridgnorth it was close to 12 inches in places. By 7.30am we posted the first message on Facebook announcing that all trains were cancelled – we know that reached 96,000 people – and after that we began contacting booked passengers by email and phone. It was a matter of damage limitation, but all the indications were that we made the right decision. It has, however, made quite a dent in our end-of-year income.” With operating capacity stretched to the limit, the SVR was unable to add extra trains to its ‘core’ Santa special services between Kidderminster and Arley, but was able to schedule three additional steam-hauled ‘Santa’s Herald’ trains between Kidderminster and Highley on
December 18, in compensation for the lost trains of December 10. Take-up was said to be ‘good’. Among a ‘suite of options’, the SVR also offered disappointed passengers the opportunity to carry their Santa train bookings forward to December 2018, and exchange Santa tickets for ‘Freedom of the Line’ passes, which can be used at any time. The picture postcard combination of steam and snow on its Santa trains is something that has eluded the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway for more than 20 years, but from 5.30am on ‘Snow Sunday’, when locomotive crews began ringing in to say they couldn’t get to the railway because of the conditions, it became clear that the wait would go on a while longer. ‘Modified Hall’ No. 7903 Foremarke Hall and on-loan ‘Small Prairie’ tank No. 5526 (from the South Devon Railway) had been prepared for the four Santa trips between Cheltenham Racecourse and Winchcombe, and a DMU set for the parallel Santa service between Toddington and Winchcombe, but all were cancelled, and because the GWSR was already at its maximum operating capacity and could offer no extra trains, the railway was left with no option but to refund the whole of the day’s takings of almost £19,000. GWSR Commercial Director Colin Fewell and his staff undertook an early-morning telephone marathon of the 840 people who had booked to ride the Cotswold line’s four steam-hauled Santa trains, and the additional 375 who had intended to ride the DMU. As back-up, cancellation notices were sent to BBC local radio, and posted on Facebook, Twitter and the railway’s own web pages. Commented GWSR spokesman Ian Crowder: “Everyone is gutted that all those children have missed out on seeing Santa. We are in the business of delighting people, not disappointing them. It’s a great shame.” The railway is still hopeful of reaching its 100,000-plus passenger target by the end of the year. It was only the second time in 25 years that the Cotswold line has lost trains owing to bad weather, frozen points and water tower preventing Santa operations in 2010. Buckinghamshire Railway Centre’s pre-Christmas offer to families was a blend of both ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ and Santa – but with up to eight inches of snow falling on Quainton overnight, the prospects didn’t look great. When volunteers – including both the designated Fat Controller and rostered Santa – telephoned to say they were stuck in the snow, cancellation of the day became a fait accompli, at precisely 8.20am on Sunday morning. “The telephones were going berserk,” said BRC Marketing Manager Louisa Richards, “and everyone was asking the same question: ‘Is it on?’ Most people were actually relieved that they didn’t have to take the risk of setting out in such conditions, and
though there were obviously many kids left disappointed, it was the right decision for the safety of all.” Mike Pearce’s Hunslet 0-6-0T Jessie was in steam to work the sold-out three-coach trains, but it never left the shed. By the close of business on December 11, Quainton had refunded almost £12,000, but was hoping to recover some of the lost business on late Santa trains scheduled for December 20-22. On the basis of a scary weather forecast on December 9, the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway elected to cancel its DMU Santa trains from Wirksworth before the heavy overnight snowfall. “We did it as a precaution” said Neil Ferguson-Lee, Vice Chairman of the operating company WyvernRail. “Although we have issued some refunds, the majority really wanted their children to see Santa, and have rebooked on the extra trains that we’ve added to the schedule over the next two weekends.” Snowfall at the Foxfield Railway was comparatively light compared with many other lines – just three inches covered the car park at Blythe Bridge on the Sunday morning – but concerns over its ability to provide a safe walking route for Santa train passengers to the station were sufficient to persuade the Staffordshire line to abandon all attempts to run the four three-coach Santa trains to Dilhorne Park, each of which was booked to carry around 140 Santa trippers. The rostered engine for the service had been RSH 0-4-0ST No. 7063 Eustace Forth. Foxfield’s decision to abandon the day was vindicated shortly afterwards when, with ever-larger snowflakes falling, police closed the main A50 trunk road which serves Blythe Bridge. Said Foxfield spokesman David Scragg: “We don’t know how many passengers might have got here, but we made the decision to call off all trains for the right reasons.” Santa train takings were, he said, “absolutely critical income for the railway.” Like most other railways in the affected snowbelt, the Llangollen Railway ran its Santa services in moderately snowy conditions on December 9 without difficulty, deploying ‘Large Prairie’ tank No. 5199 and Churchward 2-8-0 No. 2807 (on loan from the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway). But amid the arctic conditions, with six inches of snow on the ground and the closure of the main A5 trunk road at Carrog because of a weather-related accident, after first consulting with two directors and that day’s appointed Responsible Officer, just before 8.30am Acting General Manager Liz McGuinness announced ‘railway closed’. “There was really only one very straightforward consideration,” she said, “and that was the safety of both volunteers and passengers. We did not want to be held responsible for any accidents if we had attempted to run.” The North Wales line estimates that in the final reckoning it will have to hand back around £9,000 to passengers. The figure could have been twice that, but around 50% of Santa train trippers elected to rebook their seats on the additional 4.15pm trains added to the programme on December 16/17. Additionally, to create the further space, the railway was proposing to increase the standard length of all remaining Santa trains, from five to six coaches. Elsewhere in Wales, the Vale of Rheidol Railway at Aberystwyth was at a standstill, though not because of the weather. Track renewals at Capel Bangor had been planned some months earlier and, commented Operations Manager Will Smith: “We enjoyed a nice day off.” VoR Santa trains were due to resume and run from December 16-20, and on December 24. The Telford Steam Railway might not be in the ‘big league’ of preserved lines just yet, but the Shropshire line’s Santa offering – the ‘Polar Express’ – has been hugely successful. Greg Wilson’s ‘S160’ 2-8-0 No. 5197 has been brought in from Cheddleton to head the cast of an enacted drama based on the 2004 animated fantasy film, using screenshots and soundtrack from the film’s opening sequences, and Lawley station (on the far side of Heath Hill Tunnel) doubles as the ‘North Pole’. Since August, the Telford Steam Railway has sold 20,000 seats, and was running the trains six days a week throughout December. But not on ‘Snow Sunday’. Passenger and volunteer safety were again the critical buzzwords – but to make up for the lost seats and revenue, the TSR was planning to run an additional train at 1.30pm on December 17, and four extra trains on December 19, previously a nonoperational day. “We will look after those who can’t make the rearranged dates,” said Telford spokesman Dave Angell, “though for obvious reasons, we’d like to keep refunds to a minimum.” High altitude frequently punishes the Pontypool & Blaenavon Railway in winter, and with eight inches of snow on the platform at Blaenavon High Level, the decision to run or not was taken at around 6.30am on the Sunday morning, when it was recognised that a number of volunteers couldn’t physically access the starting point for trains at Furnace Sidings. All five scheduled trains had been fully booked. Santa trippers were offered seats on an extra train booked to run at 4.15pm on both December 16/17, and again at 4.15pm on December 23. Take-up was said to be ‘encouraging’, and the P&BR was hoping to keep refunds to a manageable £1,500. The rostered engines were Barclay 0-4-0ST Rosyth No. 1, and RSH ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST No. 71515 ‘Mech Navvies Ltd’, in ‘top-and-tail’ formation. ●● Other lines forced to curtail their Santa trains were the Battlefield, Cambrian Heritage (Llynclys), Chasewater, Leighton Buzzard, Northampton & Lamport, and Ruislip Lido railways.