Fright Week Halloween Services — Epping Ongar Railway

The Epping Ongar Railway in Essex runs Fright Week Halloween services, promising a full-size ghost train. The experience starts at Epping station, where the railway offers an inclusive park and ride or tube and ride on a vintage London bus to North Weird, the station the operator describes as haunted by a number of ghosts.

From North Weird, a steam-hauled train runs towards Ongar, with living-dead characters on board who "may scare and entertain in equal measure"; the operator's theme is wizards and warlocks. There is a short break at Ongar, where guests can watch a manic magician's mysterious show, see a gruesome graveyard and get a glitter tattoo, before the train returns to North Weird.

The operator says trains earlier in the day are family-oriented, with later trains more scary. The LNER café at North Weird serves hot and cold snacks and drinks that can be taken on the train, and the later trains are expected to offer a bar service.

A steam-hauled ghost train from North Weird to Ongar and back with living-dead characters on board, a short break at Ongar with a magician's show, a gruesome graveyard and glitter tattoos, and ghosts to find at North Weird. Earlier trains are family-oriented; later ones are scarier. Dress up in your scariest outfit.

The train boards at North Weird (the railway's North Weald station, Station Road, CM16 6BT). The experience starts with a vintage London bus from outside the front of Epping station (Central Line, zone 6); parking is at Epping station (CM16 4HW) or the public car park in Cottis Yard (CM16 5DN), both with charges and neither run by the railway. Parking at North Weird is for pre-booked disabled passengers only, and you cannot start your journey at Ongar. The bus is not wheelchair accessible and has no space for pushchairs; wheelchair passengers on the train travel in the guard's van, and there is a step into the train. A 17:25 service on certain dates has no bus. Children under 3 are free. Tickets are non-refundable; the steam locomotive may be replaced by a diesel without refund.