Packaging Options
All orders are sent in plain packaging so as not to ruin the surprise.
Premium Gift Pack
Our Premium Gift Pack includes a stylish gift box, which holds your personalised gift voucher and your activity voucher guide booklet. The premium choice.
£3.50 (+ £3.95 shipping charge)
Standard Gift Pack
Our Standard Gift Pack comes with a smart envelope that includes your personalised gift voucher and your activity voucher guide booklet.
Included in the £3.95 shipping charge
E Voucher
Our E Voucher is an instant voucher delivered by email, with your personalised email message and a downloadable .pdf of your personalised gift voucher.
FREE
What's Included
- Silver Steam Train Driving Experience at Great Central Railway
- Welcome briefing with tea/coffee and introductory DVD
- 16-mile drive of a full-sized, mainline steam locomotive
- 16-mile footplate ride as an observer
- Guided tour of the locomotive works and Loughborough signal box
- Lunch is provided for the driver and one guest
- Complimentary travel for two guests in the coaches
- Personalised souvenir certificate to commemorate your day
- Protective overalls provided for use during the experience
What Can I Expect
Go steam train driving in Leicestershire! This Silver package will see you driving for a 16-mile return journey and crewing for a second round trip. That’s a huge 32-miles on the footplate of a steam train.
Train driving at the Great Central Railway starts as it should with a cuppa and meeting the train's driver and fireman crew. What will immediately strike you is their passion and enthusiasm. Many of the steam train drivers working at the GCR are former British Rail employees and you’ll learn so much from them.
Leaving Loughborough station on the first southbound leg of your first journey, you will be totally hands-on on the footplate from the word go. You will be an essential member of the team, ensuring the steam-powered beauty runs to time on its journey to Leicester North, via Quorn & Woodhouse and Rothley stations.
A special moment will be crossing the lovely Swithland Reservoir. The image of the loco with the billowing steam, as she gracefully glides over the bridge is one you won’t forget.
On arrival at Leicester North, there’s no time for shilly-shallying around, you’ve got to ‘run around’ this imposing steam train to get it in position and linked up to the other end of the coaches. You’ll head back to Loughborough, ready to do it all again on this unique double-track mainline heritage railway!
As well as the time on the footplate, you’ll also be given a guided tour of the signal box (yes, it’s as complex and physically demanding as you’d think!) and the loco shed, where volunteers will be beavering away on the latest restorations.
We also love the fact that this Silver package includes open travel tickets for two guests, so they can follow you on your journey to becoming a GCR steam train driver.
This is our most popular steam train driving package for the GCR and it always sells out, so don’t delay, buy today!
When Is It Available
- Selected Fridays between April and November
- Due to the popularity of these experiences, we recommend booking around six months in advance
Location
- The experience takes place at the Great Central Railway in Loughborough, Leicestershire. This is famous for being the UK's only double-track heritage railway.
Suitable For
- Participants must be aged 18 or over. You should be physically fit and able to climb into the locomotive cab
- No previous train driving experience is necessary.
Spectators
- This Silver experience includes complimentary travel for two guests to ride in the coaches while you are driving
- Lunch is included for one of these guests.
