Kickin’ It at Kirklees Light Railway: A Review

We recently went to Kirklees Light Railway (link here). It’s somewhere we have been aware of for quite a while but never got round to going. I think in part this was because we felt it was largely for families, and in fairness we were right. But now we are a family so we get to go!

Kirklees Light Railway: Clayton West Station

Clayton Station
Clayton Station

We began our journey at the Clayton West Station. The car park is of ample size on arrival and right next to the station which is fab. It was interesting driving up to it actually as you’re pretty much driving through an area with what seems to be loads or warehouses. I guess you’re more likely to find those next to a railway line really rather than houses. I imagined it was going to be in the countryside but it really isn’t.

Anyway, I was pretty impressed with the station. Firstly outside the station is a small railway for little kids to go on that goes around a small duck pond, or it would do if the weather hadn’t been so hot recently and dried the pond out! It would have looked great I’m sure if the duck pond wasn’t dried up. It would be a great ride for little kids, and at only 50p a ride it’s really cheap.

Also at the station was a cafe which was very reasonably priced, a shop filled to the bring with Thomas the Tank Engine items, a small area with seats in front of a TV screen playing Thomas the Tank Engine and a full size train carriage for children’s parties. There was actually a party going on there at the time and I thought it looked great. If N likes trains when he is older we will certainly consider a party there. There’s also a play area for kids which is securely fenced off.

Once we got our tickets we awaited our train. It was only £7.50 for adults and much less for kids but you can buy them online and save more money.

Kirklees Light Railway: On The Train

N and I on the train taking in the scenery
N and I on the train taking in the scenery

Fitting on the train was a bit of a squeeze to be honest. The leg room isn’t massive but I think you have to expect that when you’re going on such a train. It’s not a full size train at all. I think fitting four adults in one compartment would just be impossible unless they’re all about five foot tall.

As it was, with our Uppababy Vista Pushchair we took up three of the small compartments. One for myself, Clare and N, another for my Mother-In-Law with some of our baby gear, plus a third section for the base of our pushchair. Now, I would say that if we had a fully folding pushchair we would fit in two compartments but the three of us, plus baby items plus a pushchair, we’d never fit in one compartment but we would fit in two certainly.

The journey to Shelley took about 25 minutes. You see some really nice scenery along the way. I think it helped that it was really sunny today as it showed the area at it’s best. There was also a relatively long tunnel you go through at which point it’s pitch black, so they put on some small lights on the train. N wasn’t a big fan of that, or the whistle on the train, but he was tired so I can’t blame him.

Kirklees Light Railway: Shelley

We weren’t in a position to go on any lengthy walks or anything like that when we got to Shelley so we got N to sleep (he was long overdue!) and sat in the station area to wait for a train back.

Gaming fun at Shelley
Gaming fun at Shelley

The station at Shelley is smaller than at Clayton. Still though it had a two play areas, one with a wooden train, climbing frame and slide, and another play area with a large connect four, snakes and ladders and a bouncy castle.

Also at the station was another cafe, this time smaller than the Clayton station one. However, it had everything you would need to get something ok to eat and drink, and some rather nice ice creams!

Kirklees Light Railway: Practicalities

The parking is ample and on good ground. There’s a reasonable amount of disabled parking too. It was free to park.

At Clayton the whole of the ground was very good and easy for a pram and would be easy for a wheelchair. At Shelley it wasn’t quite the same. Much of it was good but if you wanted to go to the bouncy castle you’d have to go on the grass as the path was made of stones.

The changing facilities were fairly good. They at least had changing facilities in the mens toilet which is good. The only problem was that the toilet door to the gents would not close automatically so every time someone came in and left the door open I would have to shut it. I didn’t really want the whole world seeing Ns bum as I was changing him. All they need to do is add one of those hinges that automatically closes the door. It would be much nicer. They also had changing facilities at Shelley in the disabled toilet.

Price wise it sees very reasonable to me and I wouldn’t hesitate in paying to go on there again.

Kirklees Light Railway: In Summary

Kirklees Light Railway is great, certainly worth a trip with families
Kirklees Light Railway is great, certainly worth a trip with families

Overall I was very impressed with the train and the facilities. As we didn’t really have the time, inclination or ease (given we had a big pram) to go for a walk at Shelley the whole day was about going on the train. We absolutely loved it, found it very much value for money and would certainly go again. They have certain event days too, like riding with Thomas the Tank Engine, which will be great for N when he gets older. I would thoroughly recommend going here and going on the train, but takes a small pram!

Have you been here? What did you think?

See here for my other days out reviews.

For other days out reviews written by other bloggers check out this site.

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