Cancellation of New Years Steam event17th December 2021

Daytime steam services cancelled on 1 & 2 January

Over the past weeks, the Epping Ongar Railway has operated an intensive service of Santa Specials and Epping Ongar Light Fantastic services and the staff and volunteers have pulled out all the stops and continue to do so. However as time progresses and with it the increasing possibility that crew members will need to self-isolate it is apparent that we can't be sure that we will have the crews we need to operate the daytime steam services on 1 & 2 January. As such we have taken the hard but fair decision to cancel these services now so that passengers booked can make alternative arrangements. We are naturally sorry for any disappointment caused but it is the right thing to do.

We have taken the decision to provide a full refund for tickets already purchased, and this will happen in due course. Passengers can, instead, choose to donate the value of their tickets should they wish.

In place of our steam services, we will be running a straight forward service with our Diesel Multiple Unit and heritage buses on these days which will require fewer crews to operate and so not liable to last minute cancellation.

Our evening Epping Ongar Light Fantastic services on 1 and 2 January will continue to operate, as planned, with a steam locomotive operating the train.