More than 200,000 people have so far taken a trip on the Severn Valley Railway this year, new figures show.

Bosses also say they have sold more than 30,000 seats alone for their special Santa themed trips in the run up to Christmas.

The event has been a sell-out this year with all the places on the pre-Christmas luncheon and dining trains as well as the Christmas carol trains being booked up. It is the first time officials at the 16-mile steam heritage line, from Kidderminster to Bridgnorth, can remember that happening.

David Mee, Severn Valley Railway’s services manager, said: “We haven’t hit figures like these at any previous Christmas this century – and probably for a very long time before that.

“It’s usually the case that our first Santa trains in early December are slow to sell and the last ones in the late afternoons generally have a few spare seats.

“But this year every single seat was snapped up – for the last three weeks, we’ve had no tickets left to sell – it’s been amazing.

“The statistics simply reinforce our belief in two things – firstly, when it comes to seeing Santa, nothing can compete with the nostalgic atmosphere of a live steam train to take you there. And secondly, even when the chips are down and family budgets are tightly stretched, people will sacrifice many things – but not their children’s enjoyment at Christmas.”

Bosses at the attraction say they have already beaten their planned passenger figure of 205,000 for the year, and say with the planned eight days of festive season trains planned to run between Boxing Day and January 2, the final figure could exceed 213,000.

The steam trains start from Bridgnorth at 10.10am where people can just turn up, although there are discounts for booking ahead. Five trains will run in each direction each day.