Bon voyage! Let’s get back on track
Family days out are going to be more welcome than ever this summer. Happily, some of the nation’s heritage railways are also ace places to visit, says ANDREW EAMES
Sixty years old this year and due to reopen on August 7, the Bluebell opened as a privately run railway within three years of being closed as a public service.
That unaltered authenticity means that it has been the go-to line for film and television, and its 30 steam locomotives – the biggest collection outside York’s National Railway Museum – means that it attracts a lot of hardcore rail fans.
It also has an educational arm in its Steamworks exhibit and driver simulator.
For the oenophile, there are
Sussex vineyards within a couple of miles of Sheffield Park, and for the garden enthusiast there are 500 acres of formal and ornamental gardens and woodlands at Wakehurst Place, the Royal Botanic Garden’s establishment just outside Haywards Heath.the South Downs National Park lies just to the south.
● bluebell-railway.com
Playing the part of Hogsmeade in Harry Potter, followed by three seasons of television documentaries, the latest of which was shown on Channel 5 earlier this year, put Goathland railway station on the map. It is due to restart on August 1. It deserves the attention, with one of the longest stretches of private track, including a heavy-puffing climb, rugged moorland scenery, and the option of continuing on the main line into the traditional seaside resort ofwhitby.
Given the moorland setting, there are some notable station-to-station walks along the line.whitby itself, with its Dracula associations, has some of the best fish and chip shops in the country. Meanwhile southern terminus Pickering is just north of the foodie town of Malton, famous for its weekend markets and Yorkshire puddings. ● nymr.co.uk