Railway Blogs

LAST CHANCE to have a ride on the Strathaven Miniature Railway for 2020.
Saturday the 17th of October will be our last operating day for this year and we are planning on running from 11.30 to 16.30 weather permitting
We would like to thank our loyal passengers and also our new friends who have just found us over the last few months. Your support has been greatly appreciated over the last few months, and you have made a big difference to our funds in that we have been able to cover most of our costs for operating the railway.
All the volunteers at the railway wish to thank everyone who has supported us through these difficult times
We are looking forward to seeing you on Saturday for one last run before we start the winter maintenance and servicing of all our rolling stock.
please remember to wear a mask and keep the 2m distance while queuing

Having fun on Wednesday

After a really successful outing on Saturday 10th Oct we felt that we really should be open for train rides on Wednesday the 14th of October !
And so, weather permitting, we will operate the railway on Wednesday from Noon till 16.30
We hope this extra running day will be of interest for parents looking for somewhere to go during these challenging times especially with many places already closed for the winter.
We would ask all customers to please observe the 2 metre rule and to wear face coverings while waiting in the queue at the fence
So come along for a ride around our track and THANK YOU for supporting the Wee Train

Look what fun we had on Saturday

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Some GOOD NEWS in these rather gloomy times with Covid19 and all of the related restrictions we are all complying with.
Our miniature railway normally finishes its running season at the end of September each year.
Not this year..!
We will run, dependent on volunteers, on the next two Saturdays of the school holidays – that’s the 10th and 17th of 0ctober.
We can confirm we already have the volunteers for this Saturday the 10th of October and will commence running from 11.30 am to 16.30 as long as the weather remains favourable.
We would ask all customers to please observe the 2 metre rule and to wear face coverings while waiting in the queueing at the fence.
It is hoped to run during the day three different locomotives :- Strathaven Castle, Abberton and Margaret.
So come along for a ride around our track and THANK YOU for supporting the Wee Train.

This September weekend we plan to operate the railway on Today (26^th) and Monday (28^th) weather permitting.
Thank you to ALL the volunteers that have come forward to operate the railway over the last few weeks.

We would ask all visitors to the railway to please observe the social distancing rules set out by the Scot. Gov. Especially when queueing at the fence please by giving all our visitors the correct amount of space to be safe.

In addition we would ask all visitors to the railway to wear a face covering while queueing,under 5s are exempt. 

Looking forward to seeing you at the park tomorrow please follow the above request and keep everyone safe.

From all the volunteers at the “Wee Train”. 

It is with great regret that we have to announce that our miniature railway will not operate this Saturday, 19th of September.  Due to the ongoing Covid 19 rise in cases and the new local restrictions within South Lanarkshire, we have decided for the safety of everyone that this is the best decision to make.

Please keep safe and well and we hope that there will be an easing of restrictions soon, and that we can welcome back all our loyal supporters to the railway.

Thank you for your understanding from all at the Wee Train.

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It’s not only the passengers that are happy to see the “Wee Train” back up and running. How happy do the drivers look, sitting on the locos, ready to run for the day ? They were all set up, raring to go and ready for passengers before 11am last Saturday

Look out for just the same kind of excitment this Saturday 12th September

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Just to confirm, unfortunately due to the restrictions of Covid19 and the age of many of our volunteers who operate the railway we have had to curtail the our running to one day per week.

Weather permitting we will run on a Saturday from 12.30 to 16.30  till the end of September as long as we can secure enough volunteers to operate safely and within the Covid 19 restrictions that we have to comply with.

We thank the many people who have come out over the last two Saturdays to support the railway and look forward to seeing more of you on the next Saturdays. 

From all the volunteers at the “Wee Train”

The 1^st of August proved to be a red letter day for the “Wee Trains” and their adoring public !

After weeks of preparation and training the volunteer team and their PPE went into action, the weather was kind, you turned up in your droves and the day was a grand success.

The splendid people who came to ride on the trains showed great patience with us as, with the social distancing coupled to track and trace documentation, alighting and detraining took much longer than usual.  Plus our locomotives were so excited to be running again that they occasionally lost the place (not to say anything about the crew !).

We all really enjoyed the day and look forward to next Saturday (the 8^th of August) which will be our next running session (weather dependant).

Thank you all for your unswerving support and see you all again soon.

As you know we will be commencing running on Saturday 1st of August 13.00 to 16.30 (weather permittimg) with social distancing and all that is entailed with that.
To comply with Scottish Government legislation we are required to take a family name and either a postal address or telephone contact details for each group of people (even if the group is just one person).
Please be patient with us as gathering this information will slow the boarding process for the Wee Trains and it is likely that we will not be able to take as many passengers as normal.
Also, with social distancing in mind, we will have a donations bucket out instead of selling tickets 🎫
Thank you, everyone, for your support through these extraordinary times.
How everything on Saturday works out will determine how we will operate for the rest of 2020.🚂  
Currently we will only be running on Saturdays – maybe Sunday running will return later in the year.

It has been a long sorry summer so far without our trains running in Strathaven Park.
NOT ANY LONGER
As of Saturday 1st of August till the September bank holiday weekend we will be running socially distanced trains on Saturdays and Sundays from 13.00 hrs to 16.30 hrs weather permitting.  If we have enough volunteers we will try and run trains on other days throughout the school holidays.

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Please be aware that we will need to socially distance passengers and also take contact details for “Trace and Protect Scotland” (Surname and telephone number).

There will be a donation bucket out instead of ticket sales to ensure social distancing is maintained.

Please bear with us at the track in the Park as we will not be able to fill carriages as quickly as usual thus your wait time might be longer than normal. Thank you ALL for the kind messages and offers of assistance, we really appreciate your support.