Leaving Sherwood Forest yesterday I spied a road sign. Nothing unusual in that but this one had an important message that I had not seen before. It was directing me towards the Sherwood Forest Railway. A railway in Sherwood Forest. This I had to see! Course was set and despite Mrs. W rolling her eyes at the prospect of another railway, we soon were heading down a track to be greeted by a little gem of a 15 inch miniature railway.
We arrived at about 4pm and just in time to catch the departing train. A very reasonable £3 return ticket for each of us allowed access to the train and we took our seats in one of the small carriages standing at the platform of Loxley Station - Loxley being the supposed surname of Robin Hood..
The line runs for about half a mile climbing out of Loxley and going through some nice countryside.
There is work on going to extend the line by another half mile with much of the track laid so hopefully opening soon. The terminus at the moment is at Weldale Station where a passing loop allows the locomotive to run around its train for the journey back.
Our steam engine for the day was an 0-4-0 locomotive called Smokey Joe. I gathered that much of the rolling stock has varied history with the carriages having been built in England, exported to I believe Tanzania, then returned to England and coming to Sherwood via Cleethorpes!
A great time even if only for the hour we had there but worth returning and having a proper look around. The railway has a website which you can access by clicking here.
