The online ticket office for the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway is now open for steam trains which are returning on Saturday 15th August as Coronavirus restrictions are eased.

Following more than 22 weeks of suspended operations, the line is nearly ready to welcome back visitors to the 14-mile railway, which runs from Cheltenham Racecourse to Broadway.

Tickets are now on sale at their website at www.gwsr.com and are only available to book online.

Tickets can be downloaded to a smart device or printed at home.

Each train will be made up of six coaches, with five compartment coaches with a side corridor for parties between 2 and 6 people.

The first train is set to be hauled by GWR ‘Modified Hall’ No. 7903 ‘Foremarke Hall’.

Graham Radband, the GWSR’s commercial director says: “Designing a train service that enables us to comply with strict self-distancing and cleaning measures for the safety of both visitors and the volunteers who operate the railway, hasn’t been easy.

“What we have come up with is a steam train service that allows everyone to enjoy the journey and the fantastic countryside that we run through.

“All journeys start and finish at Toddington, and most passengers will be accommodated in old-fashioned compartment coaches within their own ‘social bubble’. This means that when in their compartment, passengers may take off their masks – this is the ‘new normal’.

“Individuals can also travel and they will be accommodated at a designated seat in an open coach but to meet Government guidelines they will need to wear a mask except when eating or drinking.

“There is a break of about 20 minutes at each end of the line, at Broadway and at Cheltenham, where our visitors may get off the train and watch the locomotive uncouple, run-round to the other end and re-couple ready for the return trip.”

The timetable will feature either two or four departures from Toddington each day. Fares are £25 per head for individuals and couples. A party of six in a compartment costs a minimum of £50 for two people plus £10 per head up to six

Adds Graham Radband: “This is a very exciting first step towards resuming our train services. It has been a very difficult year with no income, yet the bills still continue to come in while we have also had to deal with an embankment landslip near Gotherington.

“The landslip was the subject of an appeal which raised £250,000 in just ten weeks to help the railway meet the £500,000 cost of repairing it – without the generosity of so many people the future of the railway was at stake.

“It’s fair to say that every volunteer on our railway is deeply grateful for every £1 contributed to that appeal – it means that we can face the future and rebuild the business with confidence.”

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