The biggest festive event in Angus will not go ahead in 2020 after Caledonian Railway announced the end of the line for plans to run its popular Santa Specials.
Officials at the volunteer-run Brechin attraction said they had held off making the decision for as long as possible, but were not prepared to take risks around the events which normally bring around 6,000 people to the attraction each December.
It is the latest blow in a write-off year for the Queen’s Award-winning railway after the pandemic halted its summer programme of steam and diesel services on the four-mile line between the town and Bridge of Dun, near Montrose.
Caley Railway chairman Jon Gill said: “We had looked at a variety of different ways of holding the Santa Special weekends and understood people’s expectations might be reduced because of the situation.
“Unfortunately, both commercially and from a risk point of view, it just wouldn’t be possible to operate safely. Our Santa Specials are built around close interaction with Santa which can not be achieved safely at the present time.”
He added: “There are quite a lot up up-front costs associated with running the weekends and while we had held off as long as possible, the unpredictability of the whole situation meant that we felt we had to take a decision to let people know.
“The frustrating and disappointing thing is that there have been so many people waiting to book,” added Mr Gill.
The three weekends would normally see five trains a day packed with excited youngsters who are met by Santa as he works his way through the carriages during the train journey.
Mr Gill added: “The one thing that we are planning is to be running at Easter and we are comfortable in our plans for next year.”
Lifeline funding of almost £250,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Angus Council and SCVO 3rd Sector Resilience Fund has helped the railway carry out critical works during the pandemic to secure its future for when services resume.
“The vast majority of the money has been used for safety critical work on the railway and rolling stock, some of it on longer-term resilience,” added Mr Gill.
During the full lockdown, areas such as vegetation maintenance had to stop and the railway will also use the vital funding for sub-contracted projects.
It is also awaiting the outcome of a planning application to reinstate a historic canopy above the Brechin station’s main platform.
Estimates to restore the canopy to its exact original form are around £500k, but the railway hopes to create a replacement at a fraction of that cost while still maintaining a balance of function of aesthetics to protect the platform and station building from the elements.
“That is currently with Angus Council, who have been extremely helpful and supportive, so we are hopefully it will be approved and is another scheme that will make a big difference for our visitors when they return,” said Mr Gill.
