We came here on Christmas eve for the Santa train ride and were looking forward to it but we were disappointed. The train was over 20 minutes late we were the last train of the day, and we were in a first-class compartment that hadn't been decorated as advertised, when we got on board members of staff then came to bring us crackers and gifts, etc that should have already been in there. One member of staff said 'Oh your already in! ' when he came to bring crackers in. Santa was terrible took him ages to come and see the children at the end of the train ride could have been organised better, when he finally came to see us his Santa's beard was hanging down below his beard so my Daughter said that isn't the real Santa! She asked him about the names of his Reindeers and he couldn't tell her any and didn't engage with her, he stared at her and smiled. After spending a lot of money on this experience was very disappointed and felt like it was rushed because it was the last one of the day.

Unless you're a train enthusiast then it's rather boring in my opinion. Went for the Easter weekend. It wasn't that well organised and very underwhelming. The short train ride to the destination is quite nice but once you get there there's really not much to see of interested at all.

Sadly the railway seems to be in decline, the staff and volunteers are fantastic, unfortunately the appearance of the stations leaves a lot to be desired, weeds growing up over the platforms, old rotting wooden and rusty rolling stock just seems to be dumped at Swanick. All the trains seem to be diesel now, we visit quite regularly and I can’t remember the last time we visited and rode on a steam train. It’s sad because in the past we have had some brilliant days out here. Disappointingly we are visiting this weekend for the Dinosaur experience and it’s a diesel engine again..

We were really disappointed visiting here. Arrived and no one spoke to us said morning twice and got ignored. Credit due to the individual in the model railway building he advised us where to go what to see otherwise we wouldn't have known A weekend visit must be different to midweek because the reviews didnt match our experience most of the main exhibitions were locked up warehouses, no miniature railway running, no garden railway. Not anything like advertisements and talk about grumpy drivers - I don't think he uttered a word, we may aswell been on the national express to London. The best part of this visit was the separate independently run Princess Royal West shed so glad that was there the members in their were so interested; accommodating just wonderful they made our sons birthday special, so much so we donated to them specifically - they don't get anything from the midland site in terms of financial support. The staff in the main "attraction" on a weekday certainly need to take a tip from them in how to treat people - even if they are volunteers if you don't enjoy it or care about someone's experience don't bother.