Railway's Nazi ban at 1940's weekend

Visitors to the Severn Valley Railway's World War Two-themed weekend were banned from dressing up as Hitler or SS officers.

They were invited to don 1940s-style clothes, both British and German, for the event at the 16-mile Severn Valley Railway, which runs between Bridgnorth and Kidderminster.

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But the swastika, Nazi uniforms and Hitler impersonations were barred from the event because organisers feared they would cause offence.

The ban was introduced after someone turned up at a previous re-enactment dressed as the Fuhrer.

Event organiser Steve Fulcher said the ban was not new and had been in place for many years.

He said: "The public like to see both sides of the re-enactment and we do have people dressed in the uniforms of German soldiers.

"But there were some pretty nasty things that went on in that war and we didn't want to cause offence to anybody who could still be offended by what happened.

"We have a lot of people coming as soldiers, which we welcome but we do ban the black SS uniforms and and swastikas."

Mr Fulcher said the event, which also featured a flypast by historic planes, proved a big success.

"About 1,000 people turned up in 1940s dress and we also had a lot of people dressed up pretending to sell black market goods, which was fun," he said.