Help is at hand for parents running out of steam while keeping the children occupied during half-term.

Didcot Railway Centre is running three steam days this week – today (Wednesday), Saturday and Sunday.

Visitors to the heritage centre, based at Didcot Parkway station, can ride in coaches from the 1930s behind some of its Great Western steam or diesel locomotives and also watch the trains go past.

With frequent journeys on its two operational lines, you will have plenty of opportunity to take photos from vantage points alongside the tracks.

There is also a large collection of locomotives, coaches, wagons and buildings on display, which are open all week round, May to September, as are interactive sessions within the centre’s science and learning carriages, as well as visits into its Second World War shelter.

Didcot Railway Centre is increasingly popular with families.

Manager Roger Orchard said almost 2,000 visitors passed through the centre’s doors in three days during the early May bank holiday weekend, when it held its steam gala day.

This marked the 50th anniversary of the closure of the Great Western engine shed, which saw the steam locomotives removed from railway lines.

Mr Orchard, 60, from Steventon, said: “Where we are based at the railway centre, it’s all built around the Great Western engine shed put up in the mid-1930s.

“For railway enthusiasts who like steam engines, we try to commemorate dates when steam engines disappeared off the railway network.”

The team at the centre also celebrated the relaunch of its Prairie Tank No. 4144 after about four years’ restoration work.

Mr Orchard said: “Those of us who love the steam engine, it’s nice to see them all working, the smell, the sound, the movement. It’s what all railway enthusiasts look forward to.”

Didcot Railway Centre has lots of events throughout the year, including the steam day and transport rally on Sunday, June 7. Admission fees for the centre range from £4.50-£15.

For further information, see didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk