This place was an excellent find. Went on a Sunday in July (non-event day) and it was nice and quiet. My sons (7 & 13) enjoyed walking around the site and climbing on the trains and the bus. A truly lovely place.
Quick visit for a model railway exhibition, and a ride in an open wagon pulled by steam. Ice-cream van onsite served one of the best salted caramel I've ever tasted.
Rachael and Rob Squires
+5
It's very small compared to some, however its well looked after and a very cute little afternoon out.
We went during their steampunk bit and it was so fun to see everyone in their stream punk dress. There was also a biscuit dunking competition which was so random!! Mini steam train was very sweet and our baby loved it. Dogs are welcome too which made it easier and there was water around for them.
Lovely museum with a unique collection of steam and diesel locomotives and a wide variety of rolling stock. My favourite is the Class 317 DTSO!
There are plenty of well-organised events throughout the year, catering for families and rail enthusiasts alike! There is also a miniature railway on site that is operated on certain days and a model railway layout in the Thompson Building.
The staff and volunteers are very friendly and helpful. I would highly recommend!
Visited as something to do with the kids. Found it enjoyable enough and reasonably priced. Diesel engine was running but the steep step onto the carriage spooked my youngest son not to go on. One of the volunteers offered to get the wheelchair ramp out so that he could get on which I found very nice of him to offer (sadly he still wouldn't get on lol) Nice to walk around restoration shed,
Sadly miniature railway wasn't running (weather was poor though)
Think the museum has the potential to be better, but I'll still visit again
A lovely museum ideal for a family day out. They run heritage trains on a short section of track, and the displays are very good. You have access to the maintenance sheds so you can see people working on rolling stock.
The model railway and lay areas are very good.
All in all, an excellent day out for the family.
I have recently become a volunteer there and although I've only been there twice I'm really enjoying myself getting involved in the running of the museum and meeting the other volunteers etc.I throughly recommended both visiting the museum and actually becoming an volunteer!
A nice place to take kids, all run by volunteers. Lovely little train rides that takes you for a 5-10 min ride and lovely cafe with the largest homemade scones.
My first visit to the centre and certainly not disappointed! It's the perfect self-contained railway centre with an excellent array of locomotives and rolling stock as well as many other exhibits and of course the superbly restored buildings. It was the day of the Small Trains event and it was very deservedly busy. Chatted to several of the volunteers and they were very approachable. It was great to see quite a few younger volunteers too and this bodes well for the centre's future.
Absolutely fabulous day out ! my husband was given a Driver experience package as an 80th birthday present. Cannot recommend it highly enough- he had a wonderful time & so did I.
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