A gruesome skull positioned on the front of a ghost train has been capturing the attention of visitors to Swanage Railway in Dorset, over the school half term holiday.
The unmissable spectacle is part of a Halloween special event taking place between Saturday 25th October and Sunday 2nd November 2025, and first appearances may be a little misleading as there’s a friendly witch and some not so scary ghosts, making it a suitable experience for young children.
Swanage station gets a little bit spooky for Halloween
Specially commissioned skull
The ghost train experience started at a Halloween-themed Norden station and then took passengers to Swanage via Corfe Castle. With a quick 10 minute stop in Swanage, the train then returned visitors to the carpark at Norden.
At the beginning of the week it was all about gothic horror, with the Victorian T3 locomotive sporting the macabre skull which was specially commissioned for the occasion.
But the necessity of an impromptu boiler descaling for the T3, meant the bespoke skull had to be removed from the loco and instead, gruesomely inserted onto the front of the 1940s Battle of Britain class Bulleid Pacific locomotive No 34070 Manston.
Although not planned, many considered the change made the ghost train even more sinister than before, with the shape of Manston creating a Traitor-like ‘hood’ around the skull. The T3 may return for the final weekend.
The Victorian T3 locomotive gets a gothic makeover
But maybe Manston is even more scary?!
Brain child of Swanage model maker
The creation was the brain child of Swanage model maker Jonathan Searle, who previously made a giant crown for Swanage Railway to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee and a yellow submarine for Dementia Friendly Purbeck’s Swanage Carnival float.
Built from scratch over a period of a month, the skull was ingeniously made from plywood, chicken wire and expanding foam, then carved to create the eerie shape with the hollow eye sockets and tombstone teeth.
It was then painted and bolted on to the locomotives with brackets specially made by the Swanage Railway engineering team.
The first stage of creating the skull sculpture
The foam starts to form the shape
Totally horrific in a good way!
Strategy to rebuild finances
The focus on staging themed events for the railway, rather than relying on the regular passenger service between Swanage and Norden via Corfe Castle to attract visitors, is part of a strategy to rebuild the finances after the Covid shutdown of the heritage railway, the spiralling price of coal, and the cost of living challenge.
Passenger numbers plummeted from 202,000 customers in 2019, to 59,000 in 2020. By 2023 the railway carried 178,000 customers which was reasonable growth compared to the previous years but slower than anticipated progress towards covering the costs of running the railway.
In 2024, the 90 day trial passenger service between Swanage and Wareham lost the railway in the region of £100,000, but despite this, finances have stabilised with a return to a small profit for the trading year 2024/5.
The good green witch and the silver ghosts who travelled on the train turned out to be quite nice
Norden station takes on a ghostly glow
While Swanage station has zombie station porters, also known as Julian Angel and Derek Pattenson
“Christmas is fast approaching!”
As part of the recovery plan, Swanage Railway is reorganising the way it is governed by merging the trust and the company, to form a charitable body.
Swanage Railway also appointed its first full time chief executive Abbie King, who started the new paid role in March 2025 and has taken a hands-on approach to running the Halloween experience.
Abbie said:
“It’s always ‘scary’ putting on a new family event, but we are really happy with the support we have received, and it’s been lovely to see all the children – and some adults – dressed up for Halloween
“We are already planning our Easter events plus our famous steam and diesel galas… and of course, Christmas is fast approaching!”
For Christmas 2025, Swanage Railway is returning to running its own festive experience rather than repeating the popular Polar Express event which was organised by an outside company for the last two years.
To the delight of many local families who remember the Santa trains of the past, there will be traditional train trips with Father Christmas making a guest appearance.
The Father Christmas Yuletide Express is running from Saturday 29th November to Wednesday 24th December 2025 and tickets are already on sale.
The hope is that by taking the festive experience in-house it will provide the railway with the additional revenue it really needs to survive in the long term and ensure the only horror show is at Halloween.
Further information
- More about Swanage Railway events
More photos
Fun inflatables
The T3 becomes a terrifying but amazing work of art
Pumpkins at Norden station
More drama on the Swanage Railway!
Even Peter Gaynor in the Swanage signal box gets into the spirit of the event!
