The Severn Valley Railway‘s staff and volunteers are celebrating their finalist position.

The leading heritage railway is a finalist for the 2024/2025 Visit Worcestershire Awards.

They are in the running for three awards; Business Event Venue of the Year, Large Visitor Attraction, and the Unsung Hero.

This award will go well with their previous Visit Worcestershire award win in 2022 and many other nominations.

Visit Worcestershire has received more applications this year than ever before and aims to celebrate excellence in the industry.

The award winners will be announced at an event in March 2025.

‘The competition is very tough, We’re absolutely delighted to have made it to the finals in three very different categories.

‘We pride ourselves in putting our visitors front and centre, whilst also keeping focus on the history, passion and commitment that have made us “the leading standard-gauge steam railway”, according to VisitEngland.

‘We’re constantly listening to visitor feedback and making improvements. This is borne out by 150 five star visitor reviews on TripAdvisor in the last year, and the fact that we’ve held more than 50 bespoke corporate events in the past year, with excellent levels of satisfaction and repeat bookings.

‘I’m especially pleased that our young volunteer Charlie Delaney is now getting the recognition he deserves as a finalist in the Unsung Heroes category. At just 17 years old, Charlie volunteers across several roles, including trainee locomotive cleaner and trainee guard, and as a member of platform staff at our Kidderminster station. Plus, he’s done plenty of shifts as a Christmas elf! He’s nothing if not versatile, and Charlie embodies the dedicated spirit of all our volunteers.’

Jonathan ‘Gus’ Dunster, the SVR’s managing director