Heritage railway cancels services in extreme heat

The Severn Valley Railway (SVR) has confirmed all services will be cancelled over the next two days amid forecasts of extreme heat.

The heritage steam railway, which operates between Bridgnorth in Shropshire and Kidderminster in Worcestershire, confirmed no trains would run on Wednesday and Thursday following a red weather warning.

"Staff and customer welfare is paramount along with protection of our infrastructure and it is felt the risk in the extreme heats forecast is too high for us to do this," a spokesperson added in a statement.

Lesley Carr, from SVR, said several drivers had already suffered due to the heat in recent days and the firm did not want to put any passengers or staff at risk.

"Under those sorts of circumstances, we absolutely are not going to risk our passengers or our staff or our volunteers coming up against that kind of a threat, we just really wouldn't want to do it," she said.

A rare red extreme heat warning has been issued by the Met Office for Wednesday and Thursday, with the UK likely to experience its hottest June day on record since 1976, with temperatures forecast to rise above 35C.

Passengers of a number of railway services across England have been advised to avoid travelling where possible and to stay out of the sun during peak hours.

Carr said the steam locomotive footplate at the heritage railway was "unbearable" in really hot weather.

"You can't even get a bit of brief respite when you step off the footplate because you step on to blazing hot [train] platforms as well," she added.

SVR confirmed any visitors who had prebooked for the next two days had been contacted with options, and the plan was for services to resume from Saturday.

"We're feeling tentatively confident about the weekend that we'll be back open then," Carr added.

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