The Severn Valley Railway is trialling the return of photo charters next month after withdrawing them two years ago over safety concerns.
The railway will hold an initial trial photo charter on Tuesday the 18th April, featuring GWR 4079 ‘Pendennis Castle’. The loco is visiting the SVR to take part in its Spring Steam Gala between 14th and 16th April.
The photo charter will be run in partnership with Timeline Events, and will see ‘Pendennis Castle’ paired with an SVR set of Great Western carriages.
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During the day-long event, photographers will travel to carefully-selected locations along the line using their own transport or transport provided by Timeline Events.
“This type of operation is commonly used,” explained Jonathan ‘Gus’ Dunster, the SVR’s managing director. “It has proven successful at other heritage railways. Very importantly for us, it greatly reduces the risks that were previously identified when large groups of photographers had lineside access, and which led to us temporarily withdrawing photo charters in 2021.
“It’s clear there’s an appetite for them to return, and we’re delighted to be working in partnership on this occasion with specialist photography event organisers Timeline Events. We’re sure that this opportunity to capture ‘Pendennis Castle’ with our own set of GW carriages is going to prove extremely popular, and we’re very much looking forward to hosting this exciting day.”
Depending on the success of the trial photo charter, the SVR will look to host further events during the course of the year.
Tickets for the SVR ‘Pendennis Castle’ photo charter on 18th April are available from timelineevents.org
