Heritage diesel haulage plans during December

primarily given over to Santa Special and Polar Express services on most of our heritage railways, and opportunities for diesel working is often few and far between. Some heritage diesel locomotive haulage can usually be found, although as they are usually Santa Specials they often have to be booked in advance.

Where diesels do operate, they will usually be worked in top-andtail formation alongside steam locomotive. This style of operation can be found at the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, where there is usually a diesel locomotive on the down-hill end, and the Great Central Railway.

Heritage DMUS can also be found running during December, with the East Lancashire Railway providing a connecting service from Heywood. The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway usually operates a shoppers special, with a DMU service running opposite the Santa Special trains, but the railway has not confirmed as yet whether these will take place this year.

The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway is running a Toddington to Broadway Santa Special, with a heritage DMU operating alongside its steam-hauled Santa trains running south from Toddington. Normally there are a few events using diesels between Christmas and the New Year, but as this issue of Railways Illustrated was being prepared, nothing has been announced.

The Class 40 Preservation Society’s 40106 Atlantic Conveyor should be in action at the Severn Valley Railway on normal service trains daily from December 26 to January 3. The train leaves Kidderminster at 11.30 heading for Bridgnorth, then does an out-and-back to Highley before returning to Kidderminster.

The Great Central Railway is once again running its annual Night Rider Trains on New Year’s Eve, which will be operated in top-and-tail formation with steam and diesel locomotives at each end.

The train, which includes a dining option, does several trips between Loughborough and Leicester, with the last one arriving at Leicester just before midnight and pausing there to celebrate the New Year, before returning to Loughborough – therefore becoming the first heritage railway operations of 2022.