This weekend my ‘taxi duties’ took me to north London and I got the chance to visit to the Watford Miniature Railway.

It is in Cassiobury Park, I hadn’t expected such a lovely nature reserve in north London!

The 10.25 inch railway was opened in 1959 and is the oldest park railway in the UK. It has been extended a few times and now runs for 1000 yards (915 metres).

The line starts at the station near the children’s play area and paddling pool, crosses a level crossing and goes through some charming wooded scenery close to the River Gade. I was the only adult without kids taking the ride 🙂

WMR is operated by Southern Miniature Railways who have a super collection of miniature railway locomotives. Secretly, I had hoped to get a glimpse of Conway Castle but I wasn’t in luck. (I guess it comes out on special occasions).

Instead, I got a ride behind Densil a 0-6-0 build by Alan Keef in 1998 that looked great in it’s bright red livery. Plus I saw Nikki Louise a 0-6-0DH built by Ray Prime in 1988. I wouldn’t have guessed it was that modern, the design of the loco has a real classic diesel loco vibe.

The line is well worth a visit. I will keep an eye out to see if they have events where they run all of their locos and pop back for that!