Footplate rides depart for the first time at Bridgnorth Station after recent Severn Valley Railway landslip

Available until February 23, visitors can board a short footplate ride on-board one of the county’s historic steam locomotives at Bridgnorth.

It is in response to the recent landslip affecting Severn Valley Railway (SVR), which happened at the northern end of the line, near Astbury, between Hampton Loade and Bridgnorth towards the end of January.

SVR announced then it would not be operating services from Bridgnorth until the embankment collapse is fixed. 

The steam locomotives have been a much-loved addition to Bridgnorth before and it has returned this year to help boost footfall into the station. 

Lesley Carr, head of marketing and communications at SVR, said: “In order to give people a reason to come and visit Bridgnorth Station, we've put some footplate rides on there. 

“It's cut off from the rest of the line at the moment, until we can get our landslip repaired.

“If you can't go anywhere on a train, what you can do is you can have the locomotive going within the boundaries of the station, which is exactly what we do for these footplate rides. 

“People are not going very far away, but they'll get a very good experience of what it's like to be on the footplate. This is really something very special.”

Booking ahead is recommended for the rides and tickets are priced at £20 per person. The rides are available for children above the age of eight and adults and children under the age of 16 will have to be accompanied by an adult. 

Parking at Bridgnorth is free of charge on days when footplate rides operate, between 9.30m and 4.30pm only. The refreshment room and pub are also open on selected dates. Please visit the official Bridgnorth Station website for more information.