FAQs

Our journey begins from Stanhope Station, Stanhope, Bishop Auckland.

Sat Nav: DL13 2YS

The Entrance at Stanhope Station is clearly signed “Welcome to The Santa Express”. Parking is located BEHIND the station. Our Christmas Crew will guide you to the car park location.

On site car parking is included within your ticket price. With specially designated priority parking for VIP ticket holders.

Our Christmas crew will ensure guests are directed to the dedicated car park BEHIND the station. Once you have turned off the main road, onto Station Road, you will be guided to drive PAST the Station entrance, to the bottom of the road, and turn left into the car park located BEHIND the station.

There are limited DROP OFF spaces at the FRONT of the station, with no accessible car parking at front, as we do not advise this is an accessible event.

Access from the car park to the opposite platform is via the footbridge.

We will do our very best to seat your party altogether, and you can view and choose seats at the time of booking. Please note if you are a party of less than 4, and have selected to be seated at a table, you may be seated with another party. In other carriages with airline seating, if you only book 1 seat, someone lese may be seated next to you. All airline seating is facing one direction, just like on a plane. you may be used to different carriages if you were with us last year on our "bubble car" carriage. these are different carriages and different configurations this year.

When booking you will be given the option to choose your own seats where possible, depending upon which ticket option you have chosen. We reserve the right to reconfigure seats at any time, and without notice.

Yes.

Children 2’s and under go free, but require a free ticket but must sit on a parent’s knee. You must book all 2’s & under go free tickets at time of booking. You may be refused entry if you turn up without having booked an 2’s & under go free ticket, or our crew think your child is considerably bigger than an infant. 

Please note:  2’s & under go free tickets DO NOT include a Seat, Food or Beverage, but they will receive a small baby surprise gift.

If you forget to add a 2’s & under go free ticket after your main booking has been made, you can go back and just order one yourself . Or you can call us and we can add that to your original booking. Please quote your original booking reference in all correspondence so we can add this to your booking.

We have three different ticket types:

Standard Tickets : Everyone receives a Hot Chocolate drink together with a sweet treat. Children will receive a surprise gift. Whilst there are 4 tables in this section, all other seats are airline type seats.

Premium includes: as standard package above families will receive one souvenir as a memento of their trip  - Note: guests are guaranteed a seat with a table.

VIP includes: same, as Premium package above – Note: VIP guests receive priority parking and boarding, you are guaranteed to be at a table and the carriage has a more luxuriously festive decoration. Each VIP party also receives a longer time to spend with Santa.

2s and under go free on an adults knee - you must book this free ticket. Your infant will be sat on your knee, but does get a small gift suitable for an infant. If your 2 year old is big enough or you would like them to have a seat you must book the child 3-8 ticket instead, which is not free. Our staff reserve the right to refuse admission on the evening to an infant who looks bigger than 2 years old, on a free ticket.

Discounted Carers tickets are available in standard only, 1 per booking.

We ask that you book any assistance dogs a free ticket also.

Wheelchair users should book a wheelchair ticket, which alerts us to the need for the ramp to board the train on the evening.

All tickets include a standard car park space and the items detailed in the specific ticket type package.

Whilst we appreciate the fantastic service delivered by staff fulfilling these vital roles, we apologise but we are unable to offer discounted tickets due to our short Christmas season and limited capacity trains.

You will receive 2 emails after you have completed your payment which will be the confirmation with QR coded tickets and a booking / invoice summary. These usually arrive immediately or within the hour depending upon your mail exchange. 

A PDF of your QR coded ticket is included. One for each person (unless you are a group booking, then there is one QR code for the whole group) We advise you download them to your digital wallet for easy retrieval. Should you lose them, you can go back to the ticketing platform and re email them to yourself.

If you do not receive your tickets please check your spam folder, prior to contacting us.

We strongly advise booking your ticket in advance. You can buy tickets up until 24 hrs before the day/time of departure if there are seats available. We do not accept cash on the door, payment is by card only.  

The simple answer is yes. But due to it being a seated ticket, we cannot guarantee there will be a free seat next to your original booking seats. if you would like to cancel and rebook your whole booking in order to be seated together, we can look at availability for you . Please email hello@santaexpress-weardalerailway.co.uk  Tickets can only be exchanged or moved up until 48 hours prior. Should you change your mind all together, we have a strict no refund policy.

You must advise us 48 hours in advance of your departure date / time, if you are unable to attend, or would like to exchange your tickets for a future date we will do our best to do so, subject to availability.

To make an amendment to your booking please email : hello@santaexpress-weardalerailway.co.uk with your booking ref, original and new dates / times. Or by calling the office on 07729 765504 between 9.30am - 5.30pm. Please state  / quote your current booking reference, or postcode to hand together with your preferred new time & date.

We have a strict no exchange policy less than 48 hours prior to departure, we also have a strict no-refund policy, under any circumstances. The only exception to our non-refund policy will be if we make a decision to cancel the event.

Groups are classed as any party of 10 people or over, and we have special group rates with a discount of £5 per ticket ( not applicable to VIP seats or with any other discount codes)

You can make a group booking by emailing hello@santaexpress-weardalerailway.co.uk, You will be prompted for  

a) the make-up of your group (ie. who are you - special interest group, friends, family ?)
b) your preferred dates and time
c) expected number in the party. (adults / children (3-8) or (9-15) / free 2s and under) plus any special tickets such as carer, accessible parking, coach parking etc

Our group policy is:

1. We take full payment at the time of booking for smaller family groups up to 15.
2. If you have a larger group or special interest group, that needs more time to speak to group members, we can hold a group booking for a specific time and date, provisionally for 14 days, to allow you time to finalise details with your group members / organisation. Should you required to change the date of your provisional booking, you can do this within the 14-day time period only.   
3. After this 14-day provisional booking time, we will invoice you for the full cost.
4. Full and final payment is required one month later (or one week prior to travel whichever is sooner). We will advise dates of these milestones at the time of booking.
5. Should you book less than 14 days prior to date of travel or after 17th October, then 100% of the group booking cost is payable at 7 days prior.

Please note: If payments are not received by these milestone dates,  we will contact you once, giving a deadline. After the deadline passes, if we have not heard from you, the booking will automatically be released. The Santa Express takes no liability for non- responses to milestone dates. All deposits are non-refundable, including lost deposits. Lost deposits are not able to be reinstated.  

We advise you arrive no earlier than 30 minutes prior to your train departure time and allow 15 minutes to park and get onto the platform.

Your ticket is for a specific train, if you miss your train Weardale Railway have no obligation to reschedule. We’ll do our very best to accommodate you however we are unable to guarantee you being able to book on another train.

If you are unfortunate enough to miss your train, please make yourself known to one of our crew as soon as possible at the station, who can then notify our Event Manager. They will then advise you of how best to proceed. Our Event Manager submits a report each evening and only if your party are noted on that report will our booking crew offer a discount to rebook for future dates. Our Event Manager will ask you to email hello@santaexpress-weardalerailway.co.uk with your booking reference, brief info about the occurrence, and a password they gave you on the evening to prove you arrived.  

If you accidently arrive on a date earlier than booked, we will ask you to wait until booked guests arrive. When we will see if there are any unbooked seats, so as to accommodate you on that day. we will then take note of your booking reference to cancel your original booking.

Should you forget entirely about your booking and the train or date has passed, we cannot offer a free replacement. Our system does allow us to see if a ticket has been scanned or not, if it was not scanned we will do our best to offer you a slightly discounted rate to rebook once again, subject to availability.  We hold no liability for missed bookings.

We encourage our guests to immerse yourself in this Festive Train Ride. There will be some queuing outside, so please do wrap up warm. We suggest you wear your best Festive Jumpers, knits, hats and outfits to add to the fun! It also ensures you look memorable, on any photos, and so Santa will know exactly who you are!

We will only close if there is a severe weather warning that causes a threat to safety. General winter conditions, including high winds and heavy rain does not on their own, deem the event too dangerous. We ask you to dress appropriately for the winter weather.

Please note Weardale Railway and The Santa Express have no responsibility for traffic delays, road closures, winter weather, personal family circumstances,  acts of God, or your own personal travel choices or arrangements, that deem you being late, unable to attend, or missing the train.  We advise you arrive no later than 15 minutes prior to departure, and leave time with enough time to consider any delays, as well as to walk from the car park area to the station. Last entry onto the train is 5 minutes prior to departure. no entry can be made after this time, as H&S checks will be underway, and train doors will be locked.

We advise you follow us on social media, where any last-minute updates or decisions are likely to be communicated. We advise you also check your emails regularly as longer-term updates will be communicated there.

You are only liable for a refund, if we make a decision not to run the event at all. If the event is still going, we will not offer a refund and are not obliged to offer a replacement ticket under any circumstances.

Due to the volume of guests and limited capacity on board, we apologise but we cannot offer any alternatives.

You are welcome to bring your own drink and sweet treat substitute. We cannot offer any discounts should you wish to do so.

Our café will be open offering a limited menu.

Our trains are formed of heritage 1960s / 1970s diesel locomotives and carriages, operated by Weardale Railway under ownership of The Auckland Project. 

This is an hour long moving train, with live cast and crew performing on board, to a narrated Christmas story. There will be singing (some familiar Christmas tunes, and some special new Santa Express tunes) and dancing. Lots of festive giggles, and innuendos, panto style. With lots of interaction built in and very much encouraged, and lots of ad-libbing along the way as our Christmas Story unfolds throughout the PA system. Guests do not depart at the half way mark. All guests stay on board at all times. We will be joined on board half way, by Santa, Mrs Claus and their workshop elves who will speak to each child and present them with a gift along the return journey. You will also receive a lovely hot chocolate and a sweet treat, and depending upon which package you have booked, either a present for each child, and in VIP also a souvenir for the family.

The train moves, we cover around 10 miles of line on the journey. Should we experience any difficulties with the train, we reserve the right to replace the carriages and locomotives, make changes to the schedule, if we are unable to fix the mechanical problem in time for your scheduled train we may offer an alternative date/time. No refunds will be given unless we cancel the train completely.

There are permanent toilets located on arrival at the platform at Stanhope Station. We have also installed temporary event toilets at the front of the station. On the Santa Express train there is one small toilet per carriage. There are no separate disabled toilets or baby change on the train, however we do have an accessible toilet and baby change on Platform 1. However, we strongly advise where possible your party have a toilet break before boarding.

Our staff will do their best to help in any way that they can with assistance when boarding. Those with mobility issues will be boarded first, so we advise you arrive 30 minutes prior to departure. Boarding will begin 15 minutes prior to departure. If you are in a wheelchair please purchase the free wheelchair ticket at time of booking, this alerts our team in advance to your need for ramp / assistance on the evening. We can only accommodate wheelchair users who are able to move from wheelchair to train seat.

We do have a ramp for wheelchair access and boarding of the train. If any guests do have mobility issues, a carer or member of YOUR OWN PARTY should be physically fit and able to assist the person, out of their wheelchair / buggy and into their train seat. Our staff can assist, but cannot help lift. After they are on board, the carer or member of the party can take their buggy or wheelchair back to our dedicated area on the station.

We offer one carer ticket at a discounted price of just £10 (Standard tickets only) with 1 paying guest.

There is an accessible toilet on Platform 1 at Stanhope Station.

There are a limited number of Blue Badge parking spaces at the station (These must be pre-booked when booking your train tickets).

Should guests require drop off at the station entrance, there is a designated drop off area. After which the driver can then go and park and re-join your party at the station.

No, the only exception to this are assistance dogs. Please book a free assistance dog ticket, this ensures our team are aware of you on the train. Proof of assistance dog may be required on evening.

Whilst we wish to make The Santa Express as inclusive as possible, there is some information which you should be aware of, to ensure you are prepared, and have a great experience:

If any of your guests are neurodivergent or struggle with crowds, we highly recommend the VIP tickets as these carriages hold a smaller number of people, have more spacious seating and guests here receive priority boarding and parking.

Our Santa Express experience involves actors with microphones, loud noises and music. Those who struggle with loud noises, may wish to bring some ear defenders to lessen the noise.

There may be flashing, so those who are epileptic or light sensitive should take this into account. The carriage interior items are illuminated with sparkling / flashing lights. For those with young children, fragility with walking / accessibility or disabled guests. Please see our more detailed Is this event Accessible FAQ.

Space on board the train is very limited we advise any large items such as pushchairs , wheelchairs, baby seats, large bags MUST be left in your car, wherever possible. Our crew on duty, will be unable to allow these into the admission area / onto the station platforms and reserve the right to refuse entry on the evening for guests with these or any general oversized items which crew feel will obstruct our crew performance.

We do have a small dedicated area at the station where these items can be left, at your own risk, subject to availability.

In order to be as effective and efficient as possible we advise you give thought to the nature of your enquiry and contact use the most appropriate contact from those shown below:

For general enquiries hello@santaexpress-weardalerailway.co.uk

If you need to make an amendment to your booking ? (we can only do this up to 48 hours in advance) please include your booking reference, day and time of booking email.

For group bookings of over 10 people please call 07729 765504 and ask for group bookings during office hours 9.30am-5.30pm only.

If you have any questions or would prefer to speak in person to someone to make the booking on your behalf please call the Santa Express office lines on 07729 765504 during office hours 10am-5.30pm weekdays only. There is no voicemail facility outside of these hours we recommend you email and we will return the call next working day.

Join us for competitions, giveaways, and cast and crew updates, plus all the up to date news. Santa Express can be found on Facebook & Instagram, search “Weardale Railway”

Please note personal enquiries or in-depth questions cannot be dealt with on social media. You will be referred to one of the relevant contact emails or to call our box office.