FAQs - Elf Express 2024

All tickets need to be booked online.  You can book your tickets online here.

Our museum is a small, publicly funded museum and heritage railway run by a modest team and dedicated volunteers. Sadly, we do not have the staffing resource to offer in venue sales.  All tickets are available on a first come, first served basis.

Bauble Carriage

Your family group will be seated together with other families in these open plan carriages. Christmas tunes will play and one of Santa’s Elves will join you in your carriage. Your carriage's Elf will tell you tales from the North Pole and entertain you whilst on board!

Jolly Carriage

We have 3 private compartments available to book for your exclusive family use, seating up to 6 visitors in each compartment. Christmas tunes will play and one of Santa’s Elves will join you in your carriage. Your carriage's Elf will tell you tales from the North Pole and entertain you whilst on board! In addition to your party of 6, 1 additional baby can travel and will also receive a gift from Santa, any additional babies need to be included within the party of 6 eg, if you party consists of 2 babies, there should be an absolute maximum of 7 people in your compartment.     
Your booking should consist of both child and adult tickets.

Sparkle Carriage

We have 5 private compartments available to book for your exclusive family use, seating up to 8 visitors in each compartment. Christmas tunes will play and one of Santa’s Elves will join you in your carriage. Your carriage's Elf will tell you tales from the North Pole and entertain you whilst on board! In addition to your party of 8, 1 additional baby can travel and will also receive a gift from Santa, any additional babies need to be included within the party of 8 eg, if you party consists of 2 babies, there should be an absolute maximum of 9 people in your compartment.     

Your booking should consist of both child and adult tickets. 

Merry Carriage

We have 3 private compartments available to book for your exclusive family use, seating up to 10 visitors in each compartment. Christmas tunes will play and one of Santa’s Elves will join you in your carriage. Your carriage's Elf will tell you tales from the North Pole and entertain you whilst on board! In addition to your party of 10, 1 additional baby can travel and will also receive a gift from Santa, any additional babies need to be included within the party of 10 eg, if you party consists of 2 babies, there should be an absolute maximum of 11 people in your compartment.     
Your booking should consist of both child and adult tickets. 

• 15 minute live and interactive theatrical show 
• Visit to exhibits in the Museum 
• Train ride with entertainment lasting 40 minutes approx. 
• Cold / Hot drink and sweet treat
• Visit from Santa with a gift for each child (0-12 years) 

Due to the limited train capacities all tickets need to be booked online and in advance. 

These events sell quickly and early booking is recommended. 

We cannot guarantee that any tickets will be available to buy on the day. 

The train journey will last approximately 40 minutes in total.  The length of the train ride is 2 miles out plus 2 miles return (4 miles). 

Your visit will last approximately 90 minutes.

We ask that visitors arrive no earlier than 15 minutes before the admission time and no later than 10 minutes after the admission time.  Sadly, if you arrive late, we may not be able to guarantee you entry to the event. 

Yes - we are offering a ticket which is for an adult with a baby aged 0-11 months. Baby will receive a gift, but is not allocated a seat so will need to sit on the knee of an accompanying adult. 

At the Museum there are toilet facilities including disabled and baby change. 

There are no toilet facilities on the train, Museum platform or Percy Main platform (which is the turnaround point for the train to return to the Museum). 

Yes – we have free parking with 65 spaces. 

Travel advice for getting here:
Work has started on the Tyne Tunnel and the northbound tunnel will be closed at weekends. If you are coming to this event and using the Tyne Tunnel to get here, we strongly advise starting your journey earlier as traffic will be slower than usual due to the southbound tunnel being down to only one lane in each direction. 

There are two parking bays marked out as accessible parking bays for blue badge holders.  These are all located close to the access path to the Museum. 

As a heritage railway, we are exempt from certain aspects of the Equality Act. We regret that we are unable to offer wheelchair access to our carriages as the door openings are restricted to 55cm.  Wheelchair users must be able to self-transfer onto the passenger carriages to ride on our heritage trains. For further help or information, please email us at info@stephensonrailwaymuseum.org.uk 

Although we make every attempt to make the venue as accessible as possible, aspects of the building and the nature of the exhibits on display sometimes make it difficult to make everything fully accessible. 

The locomotives and rolling stock are heritage items which in many cases have not been designed with accessibility in mind. It is often not possible to enhance physical access whilst retaining the historical integrity of the objects. 

There is a short gentle ramp leading to the main entrance from the car park. One set of automatic double doors lead into the entrance. 

The Museum is all on one level. It has a very simple layout with aisles between the rows of large exhibits. The floor is uneven in some areas, where rail tracks are embedded in the surface. However, walkway matting is provided at certain points to make it easier to cross the rails. 

We would advise you to leave buggies/pushchairs in the car or at the Museum as the engines and carriages are heritage items which in many cases have not been designed with accessibility in mind. 

Merry, Sparkle and Jolly carriages are made up of private compartments. We recommend purchasing tickets in these carriages.  

If you require a quiet experience, please contact us after booking to tell us your parties name, date, time of visit and the number in your party and we can endeavour to seat you in the 'quiet compartment' where the train audio can be switched off.

Please note you will still need to bring along your etickets, but we will give your information to the welcome staff and the platform station supervisor who will accommodate you on your visit.  We can also make arrangements for you to sit out of the show in the quieter meet and greet area until it's time to walk to the platform (approximately 25 minutes after arrival time), you can also request to board first.

Yes, all ticket holders will receive a hot / cold drink and sweet treat!

As mentioned above, if you are travelling via the Northbound Tyne Tunnel, please leave extra time for your journey - Traffic will be heavier than usual when travelling at the weekend. Please leave plenty of time for your journey, unfortunately we will not be able to seat your party if you arrive late for your timeslot. 

Find out more about northbound closures here.