Originally built by G.V. Llewellyn in 1911 the Southport lakeside miniature railway has been operating for nearly 100 years on the site alongside the marine lake in Southport. The first train ran on the 25th may 1911 when the railway was called Llewellyn’s miniature railway after the builder and creator, this was later renamed to the Southport lakeside miniature railway as it’s known today.

The original route was a straight line which was extended in 1938 to add a sharp turn under the pier into the second station on the line the Marine Parade Station. The original station at this end of the line was called Princess Park which was closed when the extension and Marine Parade stations were built.

The materials for the line were supplied by Bassett-lowke a toy company based in Northampton who was established in 1899, the bassett-lowke brand name was bought by the famous model company Corgi in 1996 and railway locomotive products were relaunched by Corgi in 1999 at which point Bassett-lowke would have been 100 years old.

I have lots of memories of this railway as a family we would visit Southport every summer and spend a few hours on Pleasureland and take a trip on the miniature railway.

Lets take a look at how the railway is looking today

The main station as viewed from Pleasureland. I can remember back to when you bought tickets for the railway from the turnstile on the right hand side, this has been closed for a number of years now and these days tickets for the railway are purchased on the train. The fare for 2009 is £1.50 one way and £2 return.

On the platform looking back at the entrance way above.

Today the signage around the area is looking a bit washed out.

The main platform. I haven’t seen the line on the left operate for some time, can anyone confirm if this is still used, it certainly doesn’t look overgrown.

Looking back to the entrance from the top of the platform.

One of the storage sheds on the left hand side.

The Southport Miniature railway also operate a second engine, which I can only assume runs when the Miniature railway is busy. The shots below were taken on a busy day for the railway the passenger carriages were extended to almost double the previous size.

Train in the second station

The Marine Parade Station.

Signals

A view from the roadside looking at the station.

Again another shot from the second station

A look down at the second station

This shot is taken from a footbridge over the track.

A shot taken from above showing the track going of toward the main station.

Bridge just before pulling into the Marine Parade station – which can be seen in the distance.

A longer range shot of the bridge above adorned with graffiti

A view from the train this time, going under the bridge shown in the above photographs.

I seem to have an obsession with this bridge.

At this point the train has cleared the bridge above and its in the distance of the shot below just around the corner.

Moving quickly toward the main station, this is a shot from the rear of the train.

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Southport Marine left is on the right hand side of the shot below.

Coming into the main Pleasureland station.

A view from the Pleasureland station showing the trains maintenance areas on the left hand side.

One of the maintenance areas.

And the second.

I would recomend this railway to anyone who has some spare time while visting Southport as it really is a gem. If you would like to contribute to this article or have any amendments you feel are factually correct then please get in touch via the contact form I would love to hear from you. Im not a railway enthusiast so any additional information is more than welcome.

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Dare you stand on the bridge running over the track when the ride train, they don’t call it a soak zone for nothing. Hydro gets you that wet Oakwood even went to the length of building a changing room just for Hydro customers to get dried out and a change of clothes.

Ive not been fortunate enough to ride Hydro as the day we visited was one of the wettest days I have ever had at a theme park and I certainly wasn’t going to queue up to get even wetter, even my daughter a 12yr old thrill seeker didn’t want to ride.

I have included these photographs as Oakwood is one of the most un photographed parks in the country, I’m not doing any PR for them just basically showing readers that haven’t been to Oakwood what they are missing out on. I have previously wrote a trip report on Oakwood if anyone wants to read it. Oakwood Trip Report.

Hydro Photographs.

Splash down.

The Soak Zone

Ride station and queue area.

Changing Rooms

In this shot you can see the amount of water that get in these boats, look at it pouring out from the rear.

Crazy drop.

Hugely powerful water pumps.

This shot was taken from the soak zone, looking at the drop.

Thanks for reading, if you have any comments please us the comment form alternatively use the contact form and get in touch. For any media enquiries please get in touch via the contact form.

Thanks for reading.

opened in 1994 Nemesis at a cost of ten million pounds quickly became a favourite coaster amongst enthusiasts and the public alike.

I dont count coasters or number of rides on a particular coaster but if i were to look back over the years to 1994 my count would be well into the hundreds if not more.

A trip to Alton towers just isnt the same without a ride on Nemesis for me and many other enthusiasts. I hope you enjoy the photographs.

Some ride stats.
Height 43ft
Drop 104ft
Length 2,349ft
Max speed 50mph
Inversions 4
Duration 1m 20secs.
Capacity 1,400 riders per hour.

We were fortunate enough to have a behind the scenes tour of the ride in July 2007, this was an organised tour arranged by the park and these are the pictures taken on that event.

Bottom of the Nemesis lift hill looking up.

Bottom of the Nemesis lift hill looking up.

Part way up the Nemesis lift hill.

A picture taken from part way up the Nemesis lift hill.

Looking back near the top of the lift hil..

Just about at the top of the lift hil.

View from the top of the Nemesis lift hill looking down. It was all too much for Andy.

Nemesis loop taken from the top of the lift hill.

Looking at the station from the rear of the ride entrance.

From in front of the control desk looking back.

Something for the wheel geeks.

Nemesis Control panel/ops seat.

Outside the rear of the entrance looking at the train storage/maintenance area.

Ready to go in the maintenance area.

Looking back at the final brakes, notice the track has moved.

Thanks for looking.

During a recent Club Pleasure Beach event on Monday 14th May we were given the oppurtunity to take a look around Blackpools latest attraction the Vekoma SLC coaster called Infusion.

Infusion opened to the public on the 2nd May 2007 and every visit ive had to the park since has certainly brought the visitors in.

We got the chance to look at pretty much every detail of the ride from the 2nd train and underneath the platform its housed in too the loading bay and ride control panel, here are just a few of the pictures taken during this visit.

The 2nd car.

The transfer track.

Inside the main station.

Ride control box.

CCTV

Final piece of track before the transfer.

The Lift Hill.

Track Photographs.

Id like to thank Club Pleasure Beach, Keith and the management at the Pleasure beach for arranging this tour

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.