THE Severn Valley Railway has returned to operating steam-hauled passenger services.
The railway had switched to running heritage diesel services only, because of the risk of lineside fires starting from ashes or cinders emitted by steam locomotives.
The risk had intensified following a prolonged spell of hot, dry weather.
“We are delighted to be able to return to our steam services,” said Helen Smith, the SVR’s managing director.
“The fact that at long last we’ve had some rain is very welcome, and means we’re able to operate steam once more.
“We want to thank our visitors for their understanding towards the difficult situation we’ve faced this summer. It’s wonderful to see people enjoying a great day of heritage travel on the SVR, and in many cases, they don’t mind whether it’s steam or diesel-hauled.
“We are extremely fortunate to have a superb fleet of heritage diesels to turn to. Without them, we would have been forced to shut down completely, because of the fire risk.”
