NOSTALGIC Christmas revellers have secured a new record for Severn Valley Railway.

The steam train operator has set a new all-time passenger record for its Kidderminster to Bridgnorth "heritage" line, beating its current record of 230,436 passengers in a year by Christmas Eve.

And the company hopes to continue the year's success running up to the New Year, making it a bumper year for passengers.

John Leach, marketing manager at the railway, said that because the operator's Santa steam trains were all pre-booked, the company knew it would have a good chance of beating the record.

He added that traditionally the railway was very busy in the seven days between Christmas and New Year as people wanted to use the locomotives to visit the country to get "lungsful of air".

"Because the Santa trains are pre-booked, short of flood, famine, fire or earthquake, we knew we would have a new record before Christmas Eve," he said.

"We could not have asked for a better Christmas present. However, steam locomotives almost by definition have a strong nostalgic appeal, and steam at Christmastime just seems to fit together so well.

He added that he hoped New Year's Day would really cement the new record.

"With luck we could finish up with a figure of around 235,000 passengers for the year, which would be fabulous."

The operator will run five trains daily in each direction between Kidderminster and Bridgnorth stopping at Bewdley and old GWR country stations at Arley, Highley and Hampton Loade.