Perrygrove Railway, Coleford, Glos

I recommend this 'hidden gem' in the Forest of Dean. I stopped by with a friend yesterday just as a 'filling in turn' on our way back from the glories of the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways and Welshpool and Llanfair. It turned out to be a worthwhile railway in its own right. It preserves the ethos of the Heywood minimum gauge, with preserved rolling stock that is brought out on special heritage days and a replica Heywood loco 'Ursula', which we were lucky enough to see at work. Friendly people who made us very welcome, handy cafe at reasonable prices and picnic facilities.

There are facilities for kids to enjoy so this is a good place for the family, but it should not be neglected by the keen enthusiast.

 

I couldn't agree more! A lovely line with interesting stock. I tripped over it last year after the Alan Keef open day.

If you want something else to visit whilst in the area, Clearwell Caves is just down the road - no operational railway unfortunately but has nearly a dozen mining locos on display and the underground visit is well worth it.

 

When my daughter was a child, we went there regularly and always found it thoroughly enjoyable.

 

Went there with my lad over easter and thought the fares were a little steep for what was there, but to be fair it was a horrible wet day and if we'd been able to make use of the outside attractions it might have seemed different. However the stock and loco were all nice and clean and the cafe was busy which unfortunately meant we ended up taking our drinks out and sitting in the draughty carriage shed!

 

I should be there all day tomorrow, with my daughter, who is nearly 5. It'll be her 8th visit in two years, and is probably her favourite day out! The Vintage trains afternoons, with "Ursula" and replica Heywood coaches (often including dining car) are well worth a visit. Last September's gala featured 4 steam and 3 diesel locos (diesels on demo freights), and this year they're having a Diesel Gala on June 9th, and the main Gala is over the weekend of 22nd and 23rd Sept (Alan Keef Open Day, 20 mins up the road, is presumably on 22nd therefore).

 

Bump!
So, visited again today. Still a delightful little line. The Nelson-Brown family took over the place in 2014, and they run it well. There's just a really happy atmosphere about the place, and I recommend it highly to anyone with children. You pay at the gate and can ride all afternoon.
As another visitor said to my wife, "there's not really a lot to do here, but you could happily spend all day doing it". Its not disneyland(thank god) but there's lots of fun for kids, good ice cream, and steam loco's working quite hard. The curves are sharp, the gradient really steep (1in30?). They have two Exmoor steam locos and a Keefe 2-6-2 named Lydia, which was running today, which is a beast of a loco.
Heartily recommended