List the top five

I have only visited once over 5 years ago so therefore did not consider. Great line and a far better experience than the Lakeside and Haverthwaite.

 

1. Severn Valley Railway
2. GWSR
3. WSR
4. Ffestiniog
5. GCR

These are purely based on visitor experience - many lines I haven't visited and so haven't appeared. The ordering is almost irrelevant, other than the SVR which is my favourite purely by virtue (and good fortune) of being located only 15 miles from my home! I am also a fan of the Churnet Valley, but haven't been back there in the last year or so due to work.

The Foxfield would most likely have appeared, but having been asked to pay £15 to watch a loco shunt at the colliery at a recent gala left enough of a bad taste that I haven't been back (and likely wont visit again).

 

A great variety of locos, mostly lovely stations, lots to see. Just a shame you can't see much from the train! Not really a fan of cuttings.

 

1. Severn Valley - GWR / BR(W) Heaven!
2. Churnet Valley - Wonderful scenery alongside the canal/river, with the steep gradients to Cauldon added in as well. Roll on the day we get to Leek!
3. Talyllyn - Scenery again, with a great bunch of guys/girls more than happy to help.
4. Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch - Main line in miniature!
5. Keighley & Worth Valley - Something to do at every station pretty much, no matter what the weather. A good day out can be had by most visitors.

Welshpool/WHR/West Somerset also come close, but the 5 above are my preferred destinations.

 

I agree and would add not really a fan the overgrown embankments approaching Butts.

 

I like the MHR, and have been there more than the IOW and Bluebell which are in my top 5. There is some stiff competition in the South!

If I were asked to give constructive criticism (apart from the cuttings), it would be a) not a lot to see / do while waiting at Alton and b) I don't remember seeing anything aimed at keeping young kids amused (compare with SVR's play area at the Engine House and Coalyard Railway at Kidderminster for example).

 

Ah the GCR, aka 'The Pylon Line'. The big selling point is the double track running, but I guess that's more important to the enthusiast / linesider than Joe Public on his first time visit with his family.

 

For what it is worth my top 5 would be (in no particular order); Bluebell, Mid Hants., NYMR., SVR., KWVR,
also with honorable mentions to the North Norfolk,PDSR, WSR, GCR. and MNR

I have not listed centres such as Didcot because I have tried to include all criteria including scenery which a rail centre just cannot do.

I have also tried to look at the list from a layman's point of view not just that of an enthusiast.

 

I find the GCR's almost total no-show in this thread a surprise, to be honest. Not the best scenery, granted, though it has its moments, and there is nothing really to beat sitting at Quorn on a gala day just watching an endless stream of trains up and down. Some older rolling stock would be nice (we do have two teak Gresleys in traffic with a third now under restoration, so we'll get there one day!). But as a volunteer there I'm biassed, so I'm not including it in my list.

1. Pressnitztalbahn (Johstadt). It's hard to imagine a more perfect little railway.
2. Severn Valley
3. Bluebell
4. KESR
5. Welshpool & Llanfair

Honourable mentions to the Llangollen & Ffestiniog, and I suspect the South Devon and KWVR would make my list if I'd been to either, but I haven't.

Funnily enough we took our little one on the Ravenglass & Eskdale only last week. A pleasant enough little line, but not a lot to do or see besides the train. The watermill in Boot is well worth visiting though.

 

Impossible to list IMO as they all offer different things, and anyway I've not visited all of them so maybe I would be missing a great place.

I do tend to look on the Tripadvisor web site whenever I am planning a visit somewhere. That gives a good indication of what people like or dislike.

 

My top five would be
Severn Valley
Ffestiniog
Welshpool & Llanfair
North Yorkshire Moors
South Devon Railway

The Bluebell would be the nearest to knocking one of those off, with the North Norfolk not far off. These are the railways that offer the closest to a 'complete' experience for me.
Sent from my RM-846_eu_euro1_273 using Tapatalk

 

My top five:
1. North Norfolk (though I might be more than a little biased)
2. Severn Valley - has always felt like a 'real railway' to me
3. West Somerset - great scenery, efficient railway, friendly people
4. Paignton & Dartmouth - 'does what it says on the tin' very efficiently through some great scenery
5. North Yorkshire Moors

Runners up - Harzquerbahn, Train á Vapeur de Cevennes, Lakeside & Haverthwaite

 

The OP said from a non-enthusiast point of view ( don't like the term Joe Public much!) so in "no particular order" as they say on the dancing programme:-
-NYMR: Provided you go through to Whitby for the best fish and chips!

-SVR : Once in the Severn Valley proper, Bewdley for the riverside town, Arley for the Arboretum ( if you can do steep hills) Highley for the Engine House, and Bridgnorth for the town over the high bridge from the station. Bridgnorth station itself is a disappointment and crying out for its share issue development. Pre-Nationalisation coaching stock a bonus.(Admission of bias, as an SVR member....)

-West Somerset: for Minehead and a lovely traditional seaside.

-K&ESR and Bluebell: K& ESR has the attractive town of Tenterden at one end, Bodiam Castle at the other. Real Col. Stevens branchline feel particularly if some of the older stock is out. Bluebell has pre-nat coaching stock and engines to match. Sheffield Park gardens at one end, East Grinstead at the other. My personal choice would be the K&ESR.

- NRM York. Tourist city. The NRM is a great venue if the weather is poor.

-Best "up and coming" Heritage line? Has to be the Glos-Warks, particularly when they get to Broadway.

Also an honourable mention for the tramway experience, Crich/Seaton/Beamish/Heaton Park/Carlton Colville.

Finally, bearing in mind we are talking about the non-enthusiast family, you start with three basics: Good car-parking, value for money food and drink, and decent toilets. Beyond that, the so-called "visitor experience", and in that respect it helps if there are things to do/places to go, rather than just an out and back train journey.

46118

 

How about:

- South Bedfordshire Railway
-Cheltenham to Kingham Railway
-Meon Valley Railway

No?...

 

and the North Western Railway???

 

Sn&ilbeach is in my top 6.

 

Did someone mention Sn&ilbe%ch?



Nee-nor-nee-nor!

Tom

 

Just been looking at snailbeach, clearly steeped in NatPres folklore, does it have its own thread, just seen passing reference to it in other such ridiculous (presumably) schemes such as the Luton siding.

Can't find this one at all, every time I search I get everything on the LNWR as well!

 

I actually just remember the Cheltenham Kingham Railway and it would definitely qualify as one of the best heritage railways we never had. If it had survived it would have prospered as a heritage line but in the early 1960s of course few could foresee what "train spotters'" ambitions would do for the benefit of tourism and local economies. It would have been one awesome heritage line but it was not to be.
Edited to add that it would have meant that the GWSR would not probably have happened!