The North Norfolk Railway heritage line is on track to return to pre-pandemic levels of visitors, if it is not there already, according to its commercial manager.

Graham Hukins said the attraction was steaming ahead towards winter after a season which included some unusual challenges such as the unusually hot summer.

Speaking at the railway's Autumn Showcase weekend, which took place on October 8-9, Mr Hukins said: "The weather at the height of summer suppressed numbers for a couple of weeks, but other than that we've had a very busy year.

"There was about 10 days in July and a weekend in August where we had to switch from steam to just running diesel because of the high fire risk.

"We ran all the services, but some of them were diesel only, so the numbers were a little bit down during that time.

"But now we're at or very close to where we were in 2019."

Around 1,600 visitors flocked to the railway - which runs from Sheringham to Holt, with a stop in Weybourne - over the course of the Autumn Showcase.

Mr Hukins added: "The weather has been really good - we've had a lot of our supporters and members here, and a lot of members of the general public too."

The line's oldest working locomotive, Y14 No 564, which was built in 1912 to a Victorian design, drew train buffs.

Among them were holidaymakers Tony and Susan Skellern - both in their 70s - who are from Lancashire.

"You just can't beat steam trains," Mrs Skellern said. "We always used to go on holidays to Wales on one.

"In the 50s, you either went on the train or your bus or you walked it, families didn't have cars back then."

The railway drew 143,000 visitors between the start of April 2021 and the end of March this year. Before Covid, it would expect to carry around 160,000 visitors in a full calendar year.

Regular services will continue until the end of October, and then the railway switches to its winter timetable.

The line's Norfolk Lights Express - was first launched in 2019 - is returning from November 11 until January 2, and the Santa's Special trains will run November 26 – December 23.