Watford Miniature Railway plans to reopen after flood

Parts of the popular attraction at Cassiobury Park were submerged after heavy rain during Storm Alex on October 3 and 4.

Water had damaged things like the track, locomotives, rolling stock and other equipment - and the site has remained closed since for repairs.

Originally, owner Charles O’Mahoney hoped to reopen the site in December if possible – but repairs and a range of different Covid-19 restrictions since October delayed this.

Read more:

• Watford Miniature Railway owner feeling hopeful despite damage caused by floods

• Fundraiser to repair flooded Watford Miniature Railway equipment

Now Mr O’Mahoney has confirmed that Easter has been set as a provisional reopening date, subject to Covid-19 restrictions at the time. If restrictions mean that the railway cannot open at Easter, it will be as soon as possible after.

And when the miniature railway does reopen, Mr O’Mahoney promises free rides for the first day to cheer up the community after the long lockdown.

The miniature railway should reopen by Easter, subject to Covid restrictions (Photo: Dave Horton)

Mr O’Mahoney said: “We have been making good progress on repairing the damaged engines and coaches following the major flooding in October. We had planned to undertake track repairs in late November/early December so we could have some limited opening in December, however with our access being blocked for several weeks in November this was all delayed.

“Given the additional delay due to lockdown we are now holding off on the track repairs until nearer Easter. It has been a wet winter, so we want to allow the ground to dry out as much as possible. Although there have been some very rainy days the good news is there appears to have been no further major damage due to flooding.”

The tracks and most equipment were damaged by Storm Alex

This year the ‘Chiltern Shuttle’, a historic steam locomotive which ran at Cassiobury Park for around 40 years, celebrates its 75th birthday.

While the locomotive has not run for a decade, the miniature railway team has been hard at work to restore it in time for the anniversary.

A new diesel locomotive called ‘Eric James’ is hoped to make an appearance this year too.

The owner added: “We are really looking forward to the summer and being open again, hopefully with the vaccine roll out we will have a better year than last year.”

The miniature railway had already lost about half its normal earnings due to the Covid-19 lockdown, but the service was quite popular over the summer after it reopened in July.

It is hoped that with a potential Easter opening, many people will want to visit the railway.

A fundraiser was launched back in October to help support recover the damaged equipment.