With just under five months to go until Christmas, Santa Claus made a summer visit to the Severn Valley on Wednesday, 30th July.

Santa’s summer visit coincided with the launch of two new steam services at the Severn Valley Railway’s Christmas events this December, the ‘Santa Steam Specials’ departing from Kidderminster and the ‘Elf Express’ due to depart from Bridgnorth.

Tickets for both trains, which run on weekends between the 29th November and Christmas Eve, are now on sale through the Seven Valley website.

Tickets combining a Christmas train ride and theatre show can also be bought through the Severn Valley website.

During his visit, Santa also took the opportunity to scout out possible places for festive stands and kiosks along the line in addition to making his plans for his visit to the Severn Valley Railway towards the end of the year.

As a bonus, he also had time to view steam locomotive icon No. 60103 Flying Scotsman, which was currently visiting the railway as part of the Severn Valley Railway’s 60th anniversary and Railway 200 celebrations.

60103 also hauled the first through passenger train on the fully reopened 16-mile heritage railway following a major landslide back in January, which cut off Bridgnorth from the rest of the line.

While Flying Scotsman is currently in attendance, its visit to the Shropshire and Worcestershire heritage line is coming to an end, and it will not be hauling Christmas specials on the Severn Valley Railway this year.

“There’s something about steam trains that’s already very theatrical, and so for Santa’s Steam Specials we’re creating a unique immersive experience that’s completely different from what you’d get in a standard theatre setting.

Passengers travel by steam train from Kidderminster to Arley for the Great Christmas Train Rescue, a theatrical show with Santa himself, plus Polly the polar bear and a scheming villain, Victor Von Sneeze. We’re working with War Horse’s Matthew Forbes to create some dazzling puppetry which will absolutely wow our audiences!”

Wise Owl’s artistic director Chris Brookes