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'''Christmas services''' are a huge part of the SVR's services, accounting for approximately 35,000 of the 200,000 [[SVR Passenger numbers|tickets sold annually]]. By tradition, the SVR's services close at the end of the services after New Year's Day and therefore includes the immediate post-Christmas trains.
Services are a volunteer lead project under a Santa committee, until 2019 headed by [[Diane Malyon]]. It is almost a twelve-month project: presents are ordered in March, and bands and choirs by May.<ref>SVR News 171, 203</ref>
==Early years==
==2020 and [[2020 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic|COVID-19 pandemic]]==
The pandemic meant pre-booking Christmas events, using compartment stock for all services. Two The imposition of a second lockdown in November included dates for the early services, which where cancelled. The planned operation involved two sets were used for the Santa services and one for Steam in Lights. Santa trains were planned as steam-hauled departures from Kidderminster to Arley for a Santa Pantomime and presents distributed on the train to minimise face-to-face contact. For Steam in Lights evening return trips were planned from Bridgnorth to Hampton Loade, with a steam loco on the north end and diesel on the south end<ref>[https://www.svrlive.com/blsep20 Branch Lines newsletter, September 2020] (Retrieved 29 August 2020)</ref>.
==Passenger numbers==
