The Mid Norfolk Railway is running a static Mother’s Day event this year at Dereham station, as unfortunately, over-running engineering works mean that the planned start of passenger services has had to be delayed.
Dereham station will, however, be open and families will be able to book a special Mother’s Day Afternoon High Tea that will be served in one of the railway’s heritage carriages on Sunday 27 March.
Details and tickets are available from the Mid Norfolk Railway website.
Charlie Robinson the Chairman of the Mid Norfolk Railway said: “We are all obviously disappointed that we cannot welcome back our passengers in time for Mother’s Day, but the work is essential for a safe railway.
“One of the challenges of running a heritage railway on this scale is that of maintenance.
“Our ongoing programme of development and routine maintenance both finds old faults from British Rail days, as well as repairing and replacing parts of the railway that just wear out.
“The last two years have proved exceptionally difficult to conduct the level of work we would normally be able to do and also the loss of income has not helped.”
The railway is therefore planning to reopen on the 30 April for a steam service over the May Bank Holiday weekend.
Once normal timetabled service resumes the railway will be running a mix of steam and diesel engine hauled trains, supported by Diesel Multiple Unit trains.
In addition, there will be a range of special weekends, with the year ending with the ever-popular Polar Express, running in November and December.
Last year’s successful ‘Kids go free’ group tickets have been retained, so on standard operating days it is intended a family can enjoy a day at the railway experiencing the sights and sounds of working steam engines or diesel locomotives.
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