2009 season hits record breaking 108,000 passengers!The South Devon Railway enjoyed a record breaking 40th anniversary year in 2009 carrying 107,985 passengers over the seven mile route which runs from Buckfastleigh to Totnes. After the last Mince Pie special trains ran on 31st December, the railway’s managers totalled up the year’s passenger figures which showed that 99,591adults and children, plus another 8,394 children aged under five, rode the line in 2009 to make it a fitting end to a great 40th Birthday season. Achieving over 100,000 passengers for the second time in three years is a major milestone for our largely volunteer run line, being an increase of 8.99% on the 2008 total of 99,073 passengers, and also well up on the previous record figure set in 2007 of 100,449 visitors. The impressive figures show that the former Great Western Railway branch line is going from strength to strength as one of Britain’s oldest heritage steam railways having first opened in 1969. The SDR has painstakingly recreated the ‘Golden Age of Steam’ over the ex GWR branch line which was first closed to passengers 52 years ago in 1958 before the infamous Beeching axe swung in the 1960s and shut down many rural routes across the South West. South Devon Railway chairman Alan Taylor said: “We’re all thrilled that 2009 has proven to be our best year ever with a record number of passengers and a truly memorable 40th anniversary season which saw ten different GWR engines running on the line. “We have achieved these great milestones by broadening the SDR’s nostalgic appeal to visitors of all ages, providing better visitor facilities and promoting the railway as a great day out along with our linked attractions at the award winning Totnes Rare Breeds Farm and Buckfast Butterfly & Otter Sanctuary. |
Visiting from the Severn Valley Railway, GWR Prairie Tank No 4566 waits at Staverton, during the 2009 40th anniversary season. “We know that our visitors come back again and again to enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of steam in the Devon countryside and this nostalgic and most relaxing form of transport - we even had marriage proposals from two couples travelling with us over during our latest Santa and Mince Pie trains!" 5th January 2010. |
