Thanks to the work of dedicated volunteers, the Swanage Railway will be providing the festive spirit in the run up to Christmas.

The Christmas Steam and Lights train will be running for 10 days, this year, with refreshed station and lineside lighting displays.

The railway will also be operating its Christmas luncheon steam trains and the Swanage Railway’s popular Christmas Belle using its luxurious 1940s Pullman observation carriage featuring large glass windows on three sides.

There will be two evening trains a day at 5.15pm and 7.15pm on selected days between 3 and 23 December. The steam locomotive and carriages will run through the Isle of Purbeck in the dark of the evening, covered in brightly coloured lights. The one-hour return trip runs from Swanage to Corfe Castle and Norden and back.

The trip begins with a lights switch on before passengers board the train. The carriages will be decorated and there will be on-board music synchronised to lineside lighting displays outside the carriage windows.

Volunteer chairman of the Swanage Railway Company which runs the trains for the Swanage Railway Trust, Robert Patterson, said: “We are very excited to be running the third year of our popular festive ‘Steam and Lights’ trains in the run-up to Christmas.

“The service is very special and out of this world – it’s colourful, evocative and dramatic.

“With the help of an experienced and reputable company specialising in synchronised lighting and music, we have been working very hard to design a special festive train service that will make wonderful and magical memories for children and adults in the run-up to Christmas.

“It takes a lot of detailed planning and commitment to organise and run our popular steam and lights trains. I would like to thank the many dedicated volunteers whose work enables those trains to happen – bringing festive cheer to both children and adults alike at this special time of year.”

The Steam and Lights trains start and end at Swanage station and do not feature Father Christmas.

Swanage station will only be open to ‘Steam and Lights’ train passengers while Herston Halt, Harman’s Cross, Corfe Castle and Norden stations will be closed to the public.

To book, visit swanagerailway.co.uk/events/christmas