The attraction, a cute little narrow-gauge railroad, runs from Kirklees past Cuckoo’s Nest and the village of Skelmanthorpe through a long, dark tunnel to stop at Shelley. At the end of the line, which was once used to transport mined coal from the nearby mountain road to the wash site (probably not narrow gauge at the time), are a small playground, a small café and toilets. The steam engine – ours was called Hawk – pulls enough small wagons for the small and large guests. We were able to keep plenty of distance from the passengers traveling with us and also put the stroller quite comfortably in one of the compartments. So for all foldable models, enough transport options.
Finn was quite enthusiastic about the train ride, and since the locomotive also “beeped” (the loud whistle to warn pedestrians at crosswalks before the train), Carolina also thought the 20 minutes or so were great. How could she not, after all, we took the train specifically to go to a playground – two of her favorite things to do!
We let our train go to catch the next one, so we were able to use the 30-40 minutes layover for a coffee and tea and to convince the big girl to go sliding. A small attraction at the terminus is the “turntable”, which is used to turn the steam locomotive. This takes just under a quarter of an hour, so you could stretch your legs a bit without “missing” the train. In any case, we had a good time during our stay and the return trip was also quite exciting for both kids, this time in an open compartment (no windows, but airstream).

// Kirklees Light Railway (aka Whistlestop Valley)