A HERITAGE railway has resumed services following a closure of several months.

Covid-19 caused the suspension of activities at Llangollen Railway from March 23.

The railway has been running a fundraising appeal to keep itself going through lockdown - with tens of thousands of pounds donated.

On Saturday the organisation resumed services, to the delight of staff and customers alike.

Liz McGuinness, general manager, said: "It was really good - we had a lot of passengers coming down and all of them adhered to the social distancing rules.

"We have allocated seating plans and we tell them they must stay in their seats. The majority of people are very understanding. "On Saturday we had about 100 people travelling. For a Saturday in August it's probably about a tenth of what we'd normally have, which is a concern - but we didn't expect to have big numbers on the first weekend.

"Sunday was just as busy as Saturday and we're starting our steam service again from Thursday.

"People need to have confidence that they can come back so we're hoping it will pick up.

"We want to reassure people that we are doing all we can to keep them safe.

"There is a system where people go in one way and come out the other, as well as lots of information and sanitiser.

"We'd invite them to come and see us, have a ride and help us to keep going."

In open carriages which usually seat 64 people, the railway is now able to accommodate 20 with social distancing.

As private compartments must be taken by individuals or families due to the space available, they have been made cheaper to book.

Liz explained: "It is difficult to judge the difference in capacity because it depends how people are made up. "In the open carriages we have roughly a third of the seating we used to have, but if it's a family they can sit together.

"We are losing quite a bit of money on the compartments so that people can have them to themselves.

"Our fundraising appeal is ongoing if anyone is able to donate.

"Obviously we're not out of the woods yet - we still need money so unless we get a big uptake on tickets it is always going to be difficult."

Speaking of the atmosphere over the weekend she added: "It was lovely to see customers again and everyone seemed to have a nice time."

The railway has a "Gin Train" event coming up on the evening of September 5, which will be ticketed and socially distanced.

For more information search for "Llangollen Railway" on Facebook or visit https://www.llangollen-railway.co.uk/

To donate to the organisation's fundraising appeal visit: https://llangollenrailway.enthuse.com/cf/covid-19-appeal