22nd December, 2021
The 14:45 departure from Midsomer Norton South Station on Sunday 19th December 2021 marked the last train of an extremely successful Christmas season for the Somerset and Dorset Railway at Midsomer Norton. Despite the challenges of 2021 and the ever-changing COVID situation many records were broken. Over 3000 passengers were carried along the line across 6 running days including more than 900 children. Two of the running days were hauled by our resident Sentinel locomotive No. 7109 Joyce and four by our visiting locomotive Kitson 5459 Austin One. For the first time in the railway’s preservation history all three coaches were steam heated thanks to the work carried out on the Trust’s BSK carriage in November. Crews were present 4 hours before the first scheduled train of each day to prepare the locomotives and provide steam heat to the carriages.
Regular local visitors were supplemented with a large number of first time visitors to the railway who had travelled from areas including Birmingham and Bournemouth. Passengers were treated to a warm return trip in decorated compartments and carriages before heading to Santa’s Grotto in the newly renovated CCT Van and the Buffet carriage. Over the 6 days, Father Christmas welcomed 963 children presenting each with a small gift to tide them over until their main presents arrive on Christmas day. The Buffet coach served 2000 mince pies, 288 bottles of mulled wine, 900 chocolate lollipops, 900 juice drinks and 900 packs of gingerbread men.