Bo'ness Santa Steam Train cancelled

The latest Christmas season activity that organisers have revealed will not be taking place this December is the Santa Steam Trains, run annually by the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway.

It joins a growing list of pantomimes, festive light switch on ceremonies and reindeer parades to be axed in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Scottish Railway Preservation Society (SRPS) which operates the railway and runs the festive excursions said: “After a lengthy period of consideration we have concluded that we will not be able to operate our Winter Diesel Gala and popular Santa Steam Trains.

"Our Santa Steam Trains are built on an atmosphere which rotates around singing, dancing and lots of interaction with Santa himself.

"We do not believe it is possible to deliver the best visitor experience within the current coronavirus guidelines issued by the Scottish Government.

"We are very disappointed but as always our primary concern must be the continued protection of our volunteers, staff and visitors especially following the latest announcements from the Scottish Government.”

The SRPS had hoped to reopen its railway and museum at Bo’ness in October but this is now not going ahead.

A statement on the society website said: “Further to our announcement earlier in the year, we regret to inform you that we will be extending the closure of the railway and museum to visitors for the months of October and November. This includes the station buffet, gift shop, model railway and visitor trail.”

During the next few weeks, we will look at whether it is possible for us to run any passenger trains and open our museum towards the end of December.

“As a reminder, back in August we suffered landslides meaning it is not possible to use the majority of our railway line. Following generous donations from our supporters we have funds to repair the ground where the landslides occurred but this is going to take some time.

“We are working hard on both of these projects and hope to have a further update soon.

"Please remember that although our railway site is closed and we are not operating public trains for visitors, there may be a need for us to run trains along our tracks for essential maintenance tasks or to access the area of the landslides. Stay safe and do not go on the train tracks.”

Message from the editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the highest standards in the world. The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers and consequently the advertising that we receive. We are now more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you