Handforth Miniature Railway at Meriton Road Park

We found a miniature railway at one of our local parks at the weekend!

We've spent a lot of lockdown visiting different parks and outdoor spaces in and around Stockport. On Easter Sunday we went for a walk in Handforth where we found a miniature railway at Meriton Road Park.

Two trains were running!

We're big fans of miniature railways and even though we've lived nearby for almost five years never knew it existed! We've never seen any signs for it even though we've walked and parked near to it many many times before.

There was a Scarecrow Trail in the town - this was The (not so) Fat Controller

Visit the Handforth Model Engineering Society website and Handforth Miniature Railway Facebook Page for more information.

End of the line

Nearby miniature railways

Handforth is in Cheshire East and borders the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport. The borough is home to three miniature railways - at South Park in Cheadle Hulme, Brookside Miniature Railway at the Garden Centre in Poynton and the Dragon Miniature Railway at the Garden Centre in Marple.

Related blog posts:

• Miniature Railways
• Handforth

South Park Miniature Railway in Cheadle Hulme

Revisiting the Miniature Railway at South Park in Cheadle Hulme.

We took part of our outdoor daily exercise at South Park in Cheadle Hulme and had a look at the excellent miniature railway there.

South Park is home to Stockport & District Society of Model Engineers

It's a real treat to ride the model railway and I highly recommend a visit in the future when it is once again safe to do so.

To the trains

Old arrows at the entrance - they look well spaced out in the times of social distancing

The turntable

A view of the loop

A pair of park benches with a fine view of the miniature railway

We first found out about it back in May 2017, a year after we moved up here! 

End of the line

The Metropolitan Borough of Stockport is home to three miniature railways - the one at South Park, Brookside Miniature Railway at the Garden Centre in Poynton and the Dragon Miniature Railway at the Garden Centre in Marple.

Related blog posts:

• Miniature Railways
• Cheadle Hulme

Link:

• Stockport & District Society of Model Engineers

Eaton Park Miniature Railway in Norwich

Last Friday we visited the wonderful Eaton Park in Norwich. After we'd played the superb Crazy Golf course we went for a look at the Miniature Railway. It looked like a brilliant layout.

Another miniature railway visited on our travels

Eaton Park's Miniature Railway comprises two tracks - an elevated track and a longer ground level track.

The elevated track on the Larch End loop above the line out of Parkside station

Subject to weather conditions the miniature trains operate every Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday between 1 and 5pm (April to October).

 

The ground level track cutting through a park pathway

A view of Parkside station, a signal box and a tunnel

The turntable at Parkside station

 

Larch End station on the elevated track line

Hopefully next time we visit Eaton Park we'll be there on a day the miniature railway is open.

Links:
- Norwich & District Society of Model Engineers
- Friends of Eaton Park

Related blog posts:
- Miniature Railways
- Norwich
- Eaton Park Crazy Golf in Norwich

Crazy Golf and a Miniature Railway at the Royal Victoria Country Park in Netley, Southampton

Playing Crazy Golf and riding a Miniature Railway at the Royal Victoria Country Park in Netley, Southampton.

Our recent trip to Southampton saw us visit 18 more courses, playing eight of them.

One of the courses we played was the 9-hole Crazy Golf course at the Royal Victoria Country Park in Netley, Southampton.

The course was the 879th visited and 512th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

I scored a 20 in my round on the Crazy Golf course - 2, 3, 4, 3, 1, 1, 2, 2 and 2.

Always nice to see Humpty on a course

Humpty

 

As a bonus we also had a ride on the miniature railway in the busy country park.

Piccadilly station

Chapel Road Station

Chapel Road station

Kirk Terminus

Engines in the shed

 

Riding the rails

Kirk Terminus

The miniature railway does a nice route around the country park

Shibden Park Miniature Railway in Halifax

A visit to the Shibden Miniature Railway at Shibden Park in Halifax.

While in Halifax on Saturday we visited Shibden Park to check out the Pitch & Putt and Crazy Golf courses there.

As a nice bonus we also found the park is home to a miniature railway.

We're looking forward to a return visit to ride the railway in the summer.

Visit the Shibden Park Miniature Railway Facebook Page for more information and opening times.

We also saw The Shibden Express while at the park. What a fine park bench.

There was a nice tree trunk bench in the park too. It'd been carved in the shape of a viaduct and tunnel, including a train.