Heritage railway suspends steam trains after fire

The Severn Valley Railway (SVR) has suspended all steam-hauled services because of the risk of lineside fires as the hot, dry weather continues.

Bosses apologised to passengers and confirmed steam locomotives would be replaced by diesel engines until further notice, enabling services to continue running.

On Sunday, firefighters were called to a blaze on an embankment north of Bewdley on the SVR line, which runs between Kidderminster in Worcestershire and Bridgnorth in Shropshire.

Train services were temporarily suspended while crews from Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service tackled the fire.

Victoria Evans, SVR's head of commercial and customer service, said the move to suspend steam services was not solely because of the incident.

"The decision to suspend steam services has been taken because of the prolonged spell of exceptionally hot and dry weather and the continued lack of significant rainfall in the forecast," she said.

"Sunday's incident serves as a reminder of the challenges these conditions present, but our decision is based on the wider weather situation rather than on a single event."

She said the decision was "frustrating" for both the railway and train enthusiasts but was the "right and responsible course of action".

The SVR said its fleet of heritage diesel locomotives would allow passenger services to continue.

"Without them, we could have found ourselves in the position of having to suspend passenger services altogether," Evans added.

Each year up to 250,000 passengers climb aboard the SVR, which is run largely by more than 1,600 volunteers.

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