Had a ride on this railway on Sunday 19th February 2023. Had a lovely ride but unfortunately spoilt by a rude abrupt " unprofessional guard on the 1510 return trip. We were a coach party, and told at Ravenglass by a member of staff to travel in the front two blue carriages. This was fine on the outward journey but on returning to the bue carriage, wheel chairs were loaded into the carriage. On asking the guard what was our position travelling again in this coach, he replied " You should not have travelled in this coach it's for wheel chairs and push chairs" I pointed out one of the railway staff at Ravenglass Had told us to travel in it. His most abrupt reply was " I am in charge this end" I am not in the habit of being spoken too in this manner and I am afraid spoilt the ride. Ravenglass Railway one of your guards need some customer care training.Given 3 stars because of the unprofessional guard.

I was part of a party and therefore tickets were purchased in advance. It costs £2.50 to park your car. Interesting museum on site entry to which is free, but watch your time if you visit before your train departure. There is a small cafe on the actual departure platform. If you aren’t too tall you will manage to get into the small carriage but anyone above 6’ I would suggest books a ticket to sit in an outdoor carriage and brave the elements. The travelling time to Eskdale and there is time to walk to The Boot Inn for a beer or a warm drink before returning.

The Ratty undeniably is one of Cumbria's most loved tourist attractions: a miniature railway entirely staffed by volunteers that goes from the beautiful village of Ravenglass right into the Lake District. I really enjoyed my trip from Ravenglass to Dalegarth, passing places like Eskdale and Scafell, and having a wander around Dalegarh before the train turned round to go back to Ravenglass. Also on a warm day, it was fantastic to sit in an open carriage and get a bit of a sun tan after a long winter, and to enjoy the beautiful scenery. At Ravenglass I had a visit to the free museum, had lunck in the reasonably priced cafe, and admired the miniature locomotives that are beautifully looked after. The staff in the cafe and on the trains were polite and helpful and clearly loved what they were doing However, £20 for a 14 mile return trip is very expensive and I did hear a family comment that they were paying £50 to take a return trip and having to pay to use the car park. I know there is the cost of maintaining the Ratty, but this is expensive, considering other miniature and heritage railways charge considerably less. While I enjoyed my trip to the Ratty, it's a shame it's so expensive.

I booked the Coronation Cream Tea on the Move. A very classical steam train ride, you can even observe how they turn the train around at the station. Also try your hand at the rail switches at the demonstration Signal Box. The ride itself has great scenery and especially exciting when you see a train on the opposite track. Tea was very fulfilling and tasty. However the schedule of the return ride was fixed so there isn't much time to explore around Eskdale. Overall a great experience.

Got the railway from dalegarth station with a return. Was expecting spectacular views, However, this was not the case. More so of trees and long grass. Don't expect a large steam engine railway. This is small. For the price can't really complain.

If I'm honest, probably it's us needing to do the improving mainly. Arrived (having messed up paying for the parking twice) hoping to go on the round trip. Fully booked!! (Visited in '89 and '96 and no such problem). No choice but to sling our hooks, tails very much between legs. Possibly the instructions on the parking payment machine could be clearer, i.e. more actual wording on the options of times required. But DEFINITELY a notice of trains being fully booked should be placed near the parking machine - save others from making the same mistake as us. At least the decision to visit the signal box was a good one - very interesting. And the cafe and loos do the railway credit.

This is a pleasant 40-minute each-way narrow gauge steam journey between Ravenglass and Dalegarth and there are courtesy stops on the way. My wife and I love heritage railways. Travels through the countryside which is very pleasant. Return trips are £20pp but I would recommend taking the first class alternative which is £28 as it's much more comfortable and not cramped. One couple even had a cream tea on the journey. The museum at Ravenglass telling the history of the line is very interesting whether you're a rail enthusiast or not but I thought the snacks at the buffet at Dalegarth were pricey - take your own sandwiches! Parking is £5. Praise for the volunteers who keep the railway running.

Great afternoon out with the grandchildren, very costly at £61 (Family Ticket) plus £5 parking. We found the food in their cafe to be quite bland and expensive. We loved to see the steam engines but not sure if we will be going back again in the future.

After reading all the reviews about this railway, my family and I decided it was a must-see on our Lake District itinerary. We pre booked open carriage tickets and made our way from Windermere to Dalegarth station. Unfortunately the car Sat Nav misdirected us and we were 4 min late thinking we must have missed the train. I arrived on the platform to find two trains still stationary and so asked the member of staff who was standing by one of the trains (later realised he is one of the drivers) which train was the 1.30 which we had booked. This man while drinking his tea thought it acceptable to at first ignore me and then while looking away from me barely managed a few words to say the train was on the other platform.I asked him to clarify and he proceeded to drink his tea and ignore me. I was absolutely disgusted at the complete lack of basic manners and professionalism. I then turned to his colleague, an older lady, to explain what happened and wanted to know if we could still board the train. This lady matched the rudeness of her colleague, not stopping for a moment to listen, shrugged her shoulders and said we wouldn’t be able to get on, she then continued with her task. Neither member of staff attempted assist us, or even offer some basic instructions about what we could do. At this moment I noticed the second train on the platform was still preparing to depart, so I ran over to the member of staff checking tickets and explained our situation, thankfully, he checked our tickets and allowed us to board; sadly our pre-booked seats had been taken. We are a family of south Asian heritage and found ourselves at a station where everyone (passengers and staff) else was visibly white/Caucasian, based on the fact that my experience doesn’t correlate with many of the reviews on here, I can only assume that the staff at Dalegarth deemed it acceptable to treat people of colour (who they are not accustomed to seeing ) in a wholly rude and discourteous manner. The journey on the steam railway was lovely but sadly our experience was overshadowed by what had happened earlier.

Sadly been quite upset and disappointed by the customer service received today. The group that I’m with have been made to feel like an inconvenience from start to finish. We started our journey from The Green, the man at the station was clearly not happy we were asking about returns, very rude and abrupt, and questioned how many children we were paying for. We then got to Ravenglass and were more or less shouted at about going in to pay with our promise to pay receipts. We get to the ticket office and both ladies behind the desk, I think one was called Sherill, were incredibly rude, pulling faces, tutting, and again made to feel like a huge inconvenience. Which is really sad as this isn’t a cheap day out, money for people is very limited for most now days. And when you spend nearly £50 on a train ride and just met with rudeness and disdain, really puts a sour taste on the day.