Strathaven Miniature Railway — Attraction in Scotland

It’s summer 1985. I’m 4 years old. And I’m at the park with my mum, dad, sister and grandparents. Not long there, I spot the miniature railway. Already being utterly fascinated by trains this just got my wee 4 year old brain about melting! I go on with my sister and gramps and the love affair had officially started!

From then on, I was lucky to be taken all the time, every summer, almost religiously to this utterly fantastic place!

Fast forward to being a teenager, like all kids, I grew up and wanted to do “cooler stuff”. So my adolescent brain sadly forgot about this magical little place in the world.

Fast forward again to 2023. Reminiscing with my sister, this little railway comes up fondly in conversation. As with almost everything nowadays, we never ever thought it would still be there and still be going. Kids are mostly brought up on iPads and phones these days, not good old fashioned outdoor fun. I suggest to my partner we take the hours drive over just so I can have a trip down memory lane to see what’s still there. And I wasn’t expecting half of what I saw. We walk through the park gate and see the pond with the paddle boats, the old cafe still open and most importantly I hear and smell the smell that brought me back 38 years! It was still here! I went from 42 back to 4 in under a second. In full child mode I walk as quick as I can to get to the railway without looking ridiculous. And it’s as if I’m in a time warp. The little train is puffing around the track, every seat on the train full! Volunteers everywhere working, cleaning the other trains and just maintaining the place to perfection.

I reach the entrance to be greeted by one of the most enthusiast guys I’ve ever met. I told him this story and he then tells me he’s been there 47 YEARS! So he might just have been my train driver way back then! Utterly amazing!

The place is maintained to perfection. Everything just perfect and immaculate. And it still has that complete feeling of total wonderment that is just lost from the world today! You buy your ticket (only a £1 regardless of age) and wait in line! Upon the train arriving you are allowed to board the same carriages that took my little 4 year old self around all these decades ago! I was on cloud 9 by this point! The driver then comes down stamping all the wee tickets just to add to the overall experience! I still remember this from when I was just a boy. Amazing.

We then take off for our 3 full laps round the track, train tooting and hooting each time it comes round to the station! Upon disembarking, I buy myself a complete set of wee badges (which were almost identical to the ones I bough decades ago!). The chaps then gave me all the time in the world to talk to me about the railway, show me around the station and allow me the opportunity to meet old Margaret, the tiny wee steam train that started my love of this place all these years ago! Every single volunteer is charming and passionate about just everything there which is just so nice to see in the world we live in today.

The world has changed so much over the last few decades. Sadly mostly for the worst. But this tiny little place has stayed just the same and just as magical as it always was. I would go as far to say this is the best day out I’ve had in recent memory. And it’s all thanks to these utterly dedicated volunteers that have kept a little bit of magic still alive despite everything else. I would award them 10 stars out of 5 if I could.

This little place is magic on earth and you NEED to go and experience it, reminisce with it and support its future. The world desperately needs more of this kind of fun these days! Will see you guys again tomorrow I think! (And I’m not kidding!) Thank you again for everything, and for keeping my dream alive all these years!...

Hi I would like to thank all the enthusiasts who run this train, it is abs brilliant...i dont want to leave anything but a positive review, but i would just like to offer some poss constructive comments on how I, as a dad with a disabled child viewed all arrangements from buying our tickets, to Qeuing up, to attempting to board the wee train.

1.Me and my son stood in Q and were greeted by a nice gentleman to buy our £1 tickets, i purchased the tickets and waited at back of Q, my son gets extremly upset waiting in Qs so i was a bit hopefull that the nice gentleman would have seen my sons lanyard identifying his disability and maybe moved us to the front but he maybe didnt notice it.

It was very noticable whilst waiting that my son was getting upset, as he was crying quite loudly, but no help offered to get us out of the Q.

3.We get to end of Q and gentleman closes gate over to stop anyone else boarding as train is full...so my son has to wait again until train does another couple of laps before we can get on...by now my boy is into meltdown mode, but the guys running the trains just didnt notice a thing, even with a large badge identifying his disability?

We finally get to board the train but due to all the stress of Qeuing, my son went into meltdown mode and couldnt now board the train, crying and screaming, the driver just looked at us, without any appreciation of his disability or understanding, the man selling the tickets seemed to not understand either, so as i embarrsingly climbed off the train in front of all other families waiting for the train to leave, i said i would try again later.....

I know this is a long winded post but the point i am trying to get accross is that maybe more understanding of Children with disabilies, especially hidden ones like Autism, should be prioritised by staff if it is clearly identified, so that ALL children can enjoy your wee railway, and experience it, just like all other families do.

I feel it looked quite clear that there has been been no training of volunteers on the requirements of disability access of the ride, which is a shame because i am sure that if that little bit of effort was made to help these kids access the train ride, then you could make so many disabled children happy and create some great memories for them and their families, even if you made an hour a day for disabled kids only to board with their carers?...that would be great.

Good luck with everything, and apologies for this long post, but i really hope it helps in the understanding of the hardship parents face when trying to access fun places for their...

Guy moaned at my son with autism because he wouldnt keep his feet still amd said he shouldn't be on train and would take him bck to the entrance

Disappointed that they are discrimination against kids with autism

To follow up your reply i did let the person know i said to him about my son having autism which didnt change his attitude towards me or my son so my comments about discrimination stand as he would have changed his attitude if he didn't discriminate against autism So think you need to have word with your staff and ill have words with the local...