Moss Bank Way Miniature Railway back on track thanks to volunteers

The popular attraction at Moss Bank Park was targeted by yobs in June 2022, with £20,000 of damaged caused.

Vandals had ripped up the tracks and trashed the storage room.

The devastating incident took place shortly after it had reopened.

The railway had been a mile in length but at the end of the incident just 20 feet were left.

But last year the railway managed to reopen.

And after an appeal for volunteers was urgently made at the end of last year it is now thriving with queues being common to get a go at the weekends.

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And ahead of volunteers week Stuart Rothwell was full of praise for those who had made the turnaround possible.

He said: “It is going fine for us now, it is busiest at weekend, there seems to be a lot of people wanting to come for a ride on it.

“You can often have queues of 10 to 15 to 20 people waiting.

“We are working to get another loco so we have three in total.

“We managed to find the extra volunteers we were looking for.

“We had a little drive at the time to get them.

“We have got some youngsters who come along and their parents have got involved too.

“I would like to say thank you all the volunteers, it is good the have all got involved.

“We were struggling.”

Volunteer week is underway and has been going on for 40 years.

It is used to recognise and thank volunteers for the efforts they make.

This year  The Big Help Out is taking place aiming to give people the chance to experience a range of volunteer tasting sessions.