Drive Battle of Britain 34072 ‘257 Squadron’ at the Spa Valley Railway!
Bring your childhood dreams to life as you step onto the footplate of a full-sized, fully operational steam locomotive Bulleid Pacific 34072 ‘257 Squadron’ and take control of this magnificent engine.

A driving experience on the Spa Valley Railway is exactly that, it is your chance to drive a real life steam locomotive. You’ll learn all about the locomotive and controls, spend time on the regulator with our Driver, the shovel with the Fireman and even have a go on the green flag with the Guard as part of the crew yourself. This is a full day experience which includes joining our locomotive crew from or 09:00, enjoying shared opportunities to drive and fire the locomotive throughout the day plus Guard and ride on the train you will be pulling.

During this hands-on, intensive, full day experience, we’ll take you behind the scenes of the Spa Valley Railway, showing you things that the general public never gets to see and of course, the best bit is a lot of it will be from the footplate!

You’ll enjoy a light lunch and then we’ll put you behind the controls of one of our heritage steam engines to fire, guard and drive the train yourself.

Book this once in a lifetime experience – an extra special treat for yourself or an unforgettable gift for a loved one.

The Spa Valley Railway Bulleid Pacific Driver & Fireman Experience includes:

• Book on duty at 09:30 and meet the Driver and Fireman.
• Spend a day with the engine and train, helping with disposal too.
• Try you hand at coupling and uncoupling.
• A full safety briefing with the crew.
• Drive and fire Bulleid Pacific 34072 ‘257 Squadron’ on a passenger train a total of 10 miles driving and 10 miles riding on the engine, 20 miles on the footplate!
• Guard and travel on the train hauled by 34072 ‘257 Squadron’.
• You can bring up to four guests to ride on the train too.
• Have plenty of wonderful photo opportunities.
• Visit the Signal Box at Groombridge whilst 34072 runs around its train.

This is a FULL days experience with our driver and fireman and is priced at £650.

Please note the following/terms and conditions applicable to ALL Driver Experiences:

• Participants must be aged 18 or over and in good health at the time of the experience, persons under 18 cannot take part in this experience but can ride on the train.
• 257 Squadron is subject to availability but we will of course do everything we can to ensure the locomotive can operate the experience for you.
• You or the participant must be able to climb a 6ft vertical ladder to gain access to the locomotives footplate.
• You must not be under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
• Non-flammable clothing that covers both arms and legs plus strong safety footwear are required, we recommend a boiler suit and most certainly steel toe capped boots.
• The Spa Valley reserves the right to cancel or suspend a driver experience if the participant is suspected of being under the influence of alcohol or drugs or is seen to be physically not fit enough to undertake the experience.
• Please do bring a camera if you wish!
• Please make sure you arrive at the time of the experience time.
• Locomotives or units are all subject to availability, they are over 60yrs old and so from time to time suffer failures, we therefore reserve the right to alter the locomotive used on any driver experience be it steam or diesel.
• Up to four guests are permitted to ride on the train, these trains will operate from lunchtime (timings will be emailed to all participants) and the guests must not arrive at the same time as the participant.