Santa's Grotto
Santa's Grotto was an important part of the SVR's Santa Special services from 1975[1] until 2018, and was located at Arley station. The grotto was constructed every year starting in late October, and dismantled early in the New Year.
In the first two years, 1975 and 1976, the Grotto was located in the unheated platform shelter on Platform 2. In 1977 it moved to Platform 1, using the Porter's Room in the station building. With around 7,500 visitors over Christmas and New Year, consideration was then given to using either a purpose-built hut on the platform or a coach in the bay platform to alleviate the overcrowding.[2] The latter approach was adopted in 1978, using Siphon G 1257 which was partitioned to provide two grottos.[3]
Over time the grotto expanded to become a short train parked in Siding 1 of Arley goods yard, made up typically of ex-postal vehicles 80328, 80329 and 81013, together with Siphon G Milk Vans 1257 and 2926 for storage purposes. The fence that normally forms the rear edge of Arley's main platform was partly dismantled to enable visitors to exit the train onto the platform. A large marquee was erected on the other side of the grotto train, filling most of the space in the goods yard between the two sidings, to provide cover for visitors queueing to enter the grotto.
In 2018 an SVR raffle raised over £7,000 for new facilities at Arley including a workshop and storage for Santa equipment,[4] although as of 2024[update] the building remains unfinished.
From 2019 Christmas services were revised to become an 'at seat' operation, without a grotto.