Staff and volunteers at Didcot Railway Centre are making plans to again welcome visitors their 21-acre open air site and are offering re-opening “Return Tickets” to those looking forward to exploring the outdoor living museum.
The special “Return Tickets” will provide customers with the chance to visit on an Open-Air Discovery Day when the Centre re-opens and will also be valid for a second visit – to one of the Centre’s popular Steam Days when it is possible to resume running trains.
The Centre will set up special outdoor displays and photo opportunities including historic steam engines, goods trains and a locomotive on the turntable, as well as giving visitors the chance to get up close to the locomotives in the spacious engine shed which has remained largely-unchanged since it was built in 1932.
A leisurely stroll will also take visitors to a beautifully recreated 1930s branch line station and to a rare section of surviving track from Brunel’s broad gauge railway, complete with replica Victorian locomotives.
Chief Executive, Emma Jhita, said “We have plenty of outside space, so are well placed to welcome visitors once the lockdown is eased further. Numbers will be strictly limited so everyone has room to wander around the Centre discovering the exhibits that represent almost 200 years of railway history.
“The special “Return Tickets” are great value as they are priced at the same level as our standard Steam Days – so customers will get two visits for the price of one! It’s our way of thanking them for supporting us now, when we need to pay for essential tasks to care for the site and our irreplaceable historic artefacts.”
The prolonged, enforced closure to combat Covid-19 has cut off the vast majority of income for the Centre which normally welcomes 50,000 per year. Most of the staff are furloughed and volunteers have not been able to get on site to carry on their painstaking work maintaining and restoring the historic locomotives, vintage carriages, and listed buildings.
“In common with many museums and attractions, this has been a difficult time for us,” explained Emma, “We haven’t got a firm date for re-opening yet, we hope it will not be too much longer and we’re working to make sure the site is Covid Secure so guests can visit with confidence when we can reopen.”
Further details can be found, and tickets booked, at www.DidcotRailwayCente.org.uk.