The Kirklees Light Railway re-opens for the 2020 season on Saturday 8th February, if you haven’t visited before our Mumbler review from when we visited might be useful …
The Light Railway sits on the site of an old Huddersfield to Barnsley line, used from 1800’s to as recently as the 1980’s, to move goods and passenger trains between the two towns. The line was closed in 1983 and the track lifted but in the 1990’s a local family spotted the potential to open a Light Railway on the site. And and with the help of the council and an army of volunteers, The Kirklees Light Railway was created. Today it’s been developed into a fantastic family day out, with lots more than the just the railway to entertain kids.
The line starts out at Clayton West Station, which is a beautifully restored station about 10 miles south-east of Huddersfield. The vintage style station has a large tea-room, gift & model shop. Outside is an outdoor play area with astroturf flooring and a lovely little miniature railway for children to ride on. We decided to catch the train first, and explore Clayton West station on our return.
The line is served by five different miniature steam locomotives, each with their own hand-painted wooden carriages. They take passengers on a three and-a-half mile journey from Clayton West to the Shelley Station terminus. Trains run every 40 minutes and we caught the 11am one.
The one way journey took us about 25 minutes. In that time we passed some absolutely beautiful countryside in the South Pennine Foothills. We saw farms, cows, sheep and horses and all the while the Emley Moor Mast in the distance! The train also runs through the Shelley Woodhouse Tunnel – the longest tunnel on any 15-inch narrow gauge line in Britain. This proved to be a bit of a shock for some small children, as during the summer the train carriages are largely windowless and the noise of the tunnel, coupled with the dark, is a bit scary. But we passed through it in a little more than a minute and Mini-Mumbler seemed ok with it, albeit she needed a cuddle.
Once through the tunnel, it was only a few minutes before we pulled into Shelley Station. Shelley is smaller than Clayton West, but no less pretty. The real highlight though was the turning platform where the children got to watch the locomotive detach from the rest of the carriages and be spun a full 360 degrees ready to pull the carriages back on the return journey.
Whilst at the station there is plenty to do. There’s another small ‘Train’ themed playground, complete with a sandpit which Mini-Mumbler loved. There’s also a cafe with toilets & baby changing facilities, picnic area, outdoor games and a small bouncy castle (the castle is made available mid-March to October, weather permitting). Because the station is only accessible to train passengers, there’s a limit on the number of people who can be there at any one time. As a result it felt pleasantly quiet. There was plenty of room on the bouncy castle and in the sandpit.
After a short picnic and a play, we decided to catch the next available train back to Clayton West. We could definitely have stayed longer, but as we hadn’t explored Clayton, we decided to return. There is only one line at the station, so the return journey is the same as the outward one. But there is still plenty to see on the other side of the track!
Once back at Clayton West we bought ice creams from the tea room and headed for the play area. Recently refurbished and with an astroturf surface it’s a very modern, clean playground with swings, slides, tunnels and couple of different forts for toddlers and older children. We ended our trip with a quick ride on the miniature railway. All in all, we’d spent about two and a half hours at the Railway but it could have been longer.
The line runs 3 different timetables, dependant on time of year. We travelled in August on the Orange line when trains were running every 40 minutes from Clayton West from 10.20am to 3.40pm. You can see full details of the Kirklees Light Railway Times , Special Events and Fares here. There is a large car park on site with free parking all day.
Please note Mumbler was not paid for this review and all views are our own. We took a 2 year old on the trip and feel it’s most suited to children aged 18 months – 8 years.
