A genuinely sad day

Every year my father and I go on our bikes to see the trains running on the Severn Valley Railway. The trains stopped there so the families on board could get off and visit Santa's grotto and meet the big man.

I was probably only three or four years old when we first went on it, then it continued until I was too old, probably about ten. We continued the tradition by cycling there more for nostalgia than anything...oh...and we both love Arley on the River Severn.

My father and I were genuinely gutted to get there and see no Santa setup, trains or people for that matter. 35 plus years this has been a thing for us...not anymore :(

Oh well things change and I can't really strop as it's not intended for me but I was really looking forward to taking Orla when she's a little bit older to continue the family tradition.

The Severn Valley still runs the Santa Specials from Kidderminster and Bridgnorth to Highley but meeting Santa is onboard the train now and they only pass through Arley station.

My biggest disappointment with the whole thing though, is that they sell it as a Santa Steam Train experience and the only train we saw was diesel locomotive pulling the carriages.  I'm no train geek but this is appalling.

In other news Orla is 3 months old today.

Mr Bo Hingles