Tuesday 7 October 2014

All Aboard at Didcot Railway Centre

Back last month we took Andrew's dad out for a mystery tour to celebrate his 74th birthday.
We told him a couple of months in advance to keep the date free and amazingly he didn't twig where he was going until he was only a few miles away.

The surprise destination was...Didcot Railway Centre!

Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre


It's somewhere he'd been meaning to visit for about 40 years and just never got round to it; me and Andrew spotted that Tesco were doing 5x the value on their Clubcard Days Out deals and one of them was Didcot so we thought that would be an excellent trip out for him (and for us).

Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre


Me and Andrew have been to quite a few different railway attractions and I reckon Didcot has to be one of the best. The trains don't operate every day but if you pick a 'steam day' or event, I think you'd certainly get your money's worth. We went on a weekend called 'All in a Day's Work' and once we'd paid our entry fee, we could have as many trips on the trains as we liked - and we made sure to have several.

Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre


Another bonus point was that you could actually look round everything and walk over the tracks. It doesn't sound like much but so many places have gone so health and safety mad nowadays that you can't look at anything closely. That's not to say Didcot wasn't safe, it clearly was and had a lovely air of family-friendliness to it; the precautions taken were just right, meaning that you could enjoy the day and not get peeved that everything was cordoned off (which pleased the old people very much!).

Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre


As well as the rides on the trains (with engines being swapped over during the day so you got to ride on several different ones), there was also locomotive restoration sheds, museums, an air raid shelter (complete with the sound effect of bombs dropping around you), station recreations, woodland walks and carriage displays.


Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre


There were plenty of times you forgot you were in the centre of a large modern bustling town with the mainline railway station just next door!

Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre


If you're interested in railways, I'd definitely recommend sticking Didcot on your list of places to visit. We all had a fabulous day and father in law seemed dead chuffed to have finally made it there!
 

3 comments:

  1. Ooo i'm all intrigued by the Burton Agnes Hall plate on that train, that's a huge old house near where I grew up! Looks like my kind of place for a day trip, can't beat stream trains!

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  2. This looks like such a nice day out! Joe has family in Didcot, so I think I'll have to suggest a trip to see the trains as well :) xx

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  3. This looks and sounds fantastic- seriously brilliant photos too! I do love a clubcard bargain- our day out to Longleat the same weekend we met you is still one of my favourites :) xxx

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