From tomorrow, Wednesday, 17th August, steam services will resume at the Severn Valley Railway as recent rain has mitigated the effects of the prolonged spell of hot, dry weather.

The lack of rain caused the cancellation of steam-hauled services because of the risk of line-side fires starting from ashes or cinders emitted by steam locomotives. Because of that risk, services on the railway were all hauled by heritage diesel locomotives.

The return to steam-hauled services will be welcome news as the railway has lined up some special visitors for its upcoming Autumn Gala from 15th and 18th September.

These include 2-6-0 No. 9351 visiting from the Severn Valley Railway, which is based on a GWR 4351 Class locomotive and was built in 2004 using donor parts from a 2-6-2 tank engine to convert it to a 2-6-0 tender engine.

Also announced for the gala is LMS Black 5 No. 45231 Sherwood Forester, Hall Class 4-6-0 No. 4930 Hagley Hall, making its first gala appearance after a 36-year absence, Bulleid Pacific No. No. 70 ‘Elizabeth II, LMS Class 4MT 2-6-0 No. 43106, BR Standard Class 4 2-6-0 No. 75069, and GWR Pannier Tank 0-6-0 No. 7714. There will also be two locomotives making their final gala appearance before their boiler ticket expires: GWR 2-8-0 No. 2857 and GWR Pannier Tank 0-6-0 No. 1501.

The Severn Valley Railway’s managing director. Helen Smith, said:

“We are delighted to be able to return to our steam services. 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.”