Finding the bus to get to North Weald for Santa special train wasn't easy. Bus arrived and had a slow journey due to road works, this meant that once we arrived really we needed to go straight to the platform to be ready to have photos taken with Santa and his team (so we missed out) and go to the correct area for our train carriage. Announcements were apparently being given out, but we could not hear them due to crowds of people some coming off the train previously. However it was 12.30pm and we needed lunch and loo beforehand as no toilet on the train. So we queued for lunch and then toilet and took our lunch on to the platform where we had to push our way past most people to arrive at our carriage area. Spruce at the very end. However after this difficult start all went very well. The different characters did well and that bit went off great and our granddaughter really enjoyed it. As we arrived at Ongar station a lady came into our carriage and announced times etc. We and many others couldn't hear, so I went up to her and asked and she told us times etc in a louder voice for others to hear also. Time for a loo stop and drink to be brought back onto the train. Father Christmas came along while train heading back to North Weald. Present was very good and suitable and our granddaughter was addressed by her name, which was lovely. We got many photos too. Arrival back in North Weald we could use toilets and visit gift shop before we got on the bus. We were slightly concerned about timings of catching the bus back, but it worked out okay. So mostly the day was really good, despite the very cold weather. Train was heated sufficiently.

Experience pricey for a small amount of lights which you see twice as train takes same route back to station. One side of carriage sees more than other side. Extremely hot in carriage. Food and drinks at station varied but expensive. Children bored within 5 mins as was I. Nobody checks tickets so anyone could board as we found by the people sitting in our pre booked seats. They just kept moving round the carriage until nobody asked them to get out of their seat! Very poor Christmas experience all round for children and adults

Attended the beer festival last Saturday when it was raining. The selection of beers was very good but the beer tent was far too small to hold everyone given the weather and small shelter erected next to the tent was also far too small and very flimsy!! In addition there was nowhere to sit! Having prebooked our tickets we were then made to queue up in the rain to access the booking office to obtain a ticket in order to board the trains - ridiculous given the weather and no flexibility from the staff - presume volunteers so hardly jobsworths!! Toilets were locked on the trains so given that they were serving beer on the train this seems a bit silly!! To top it all when I took my £3 festival glass home and put it in the dish washer all the printing came off the glass!! Don't think we will be going again! Roll on GBBF next month

Look before I start let’s make one thing clear. Hats off to the volunteers that run the railway.👏👏 But and here’s the big but…….. Epping Fryer fish and chip train, ok firstly does not go to Epping so why call it the “Epping Fryer” your not even moving when the slightly warm meal is served. Only when the train is on the way back to North Weld from Ongar do you get served ice cream. All the staff were ether having a go at each other or as one young lad smartly dressed in his uniform, miserable as sin and hardly smiled. There was no direction or organization between staff and staff and visitors. Please don’t get me wrong it’s worth the day out but not on the so called Epping Fryer. Would we go again…… highly unlikely as there are better steam train rides about.

We found the EO railway website extremely confusing trying to work out where to start our journey, where to park etc. As we were travelling by car and the trains were starting from North Weald (I believe most do) we decided to drive to North Weald station and find somewhere close to park. We understood there was no parking at all at the train station but there seemed to be room for a good few cars. We parked on the road just leading up to the station with no issues on a Sunday morning. We didn't take a buggy for our 18 month old as we had read they need to be left on the platform. Checking in via the ticket office was very slow with a lack of information. I appreciate it is run by volunteers but there should be more staff and information available. We waited on platform 2 until we were told we could cross over to platform 1. Shortly after, Bluey came along the platform on a train. The train works it's way along the platform so you can take photos. The time you have to take photos is very quick and other customers did not follow the queuing system (which also was not enforced by staff) meaning we didn't even get a chance to take a photo without others in the background, this was hugely disappointing. The magician is a nice touch and he provides lots of info. The train journey itself is fine but nothing exciting. The magician show at Ongar station was good for the young kids before we got back on the train to North Weald. Overall, it was ok but I wouldn't return.

We were looking forward to this Bluey Character experience going along with our family including a toddler and one year old baby. This was really spoilt by the total misinformation both before our trip and once we arrived. We originally booked a certain time but were informed this had been cancelled and we were put onto an earlier train which was a bit inconvenient but I understand problems can occur. We then booked the 1.20 train and were under the impression that this was the time of the train to leave. The information said to arrive 30 mins earlier to meet the character. We duly did this and were told by a member of staff to make our way to Platform One straight away. We stood there in the heat for about 1.1/2 hours as apparently the train was not due to leave until 1.50 and then it was also delayed by about 20 minutes too. Had we been informed of this when we booked in at the office we could have gone to have a sit down and a cup of tea to pass the time. As it was we ended up with two very bored, hot and hungry children which spoilt our day. When the Bluey character did arrive it was just one character who spent less than one minute with each person to get a photo and even then other people were standing in the way of us trying to get a photo and the staff didn’t help organise it. When the train journey did start, we were hardly on the journey 20 minutes when it stopped again at Ongar for 30 minutes and the journey back was approximately 20 minutes so all in all the day was a complete rip off. It was also advertised that there would be a magician onboard keeping everyone entertained but all he did was one small trick and moved onto the next carriage. It also stated that there would be a person modelling balloons but again these were very expensive to buy. The staff at the station all seemed to be very unhelpful and unsure what was going on. The only good thing was the members of staff on board the train were very nice and friendly. When I did complain to the company I was given the reply that the information about the timings was sent to me but I rechecked two or three times and the information they said they had given me was definitely not included with my tickets. I told them that other people had been under the same impression as me but they said that they could not have read their information included with the ticket either! The best part of the day was the heritage bus trip which took us from Epping Station to North Weald Station. I would not recommend this trip and wouldn’t return.