While the Middleton Railway is itself a charity, for the last few years it has also held an event to support an external charity. This year this event was to support Marie Curie, and it was held on the weekend of 4th to 6th May 2019.

Trains ran at their normal times, with the first train leaving Moor Road at 11.00 and the last one at 16.00.

Other features of this event were:

stalls and a tombola supporting the work of Marie Curie;
the chance to have a go at driving one of our diesel locomotives, as a "driver experience" experience - more details of these "driver experiences" are given below; and
the opportunity to ride in the cab of one of our steam locomotives as it hauls the train up the line - more details of these footplate rides are given below.

"Driver Experience"

A "driver experience" gives you the chance to drive one of our diesel locomotives for a short distance, up and down one of our sidings. This will be under instruction from one of our senior drivers, who will make sure that nothing can go wrong.

There are a number of special conditions that have to apply to this, and these are as follows.

For a "driver experience" you must be at least 18 years old, and not older than 76 years.
You also need to be in reasonable health - at least up to the level that is required to drive a motor car - and at the time of the experience you must not be under the influence of either drink or drugs.
No prior booking is needed: experiences will be available on a first-come-first-served basis.
For the experience, there is a charge of £5 minimum, which will go towards Marie Curie. If you are willing to make a donation to Marie Curie on top of this minimum charge, this will be much appreciated.
You should wear suitable clothes, and then we can lend you an overall coat and a pair of gloves for the duration of the experience.

Footplate Rides

A footplate ride gives you the opportunity to ride in the cab of a steam locomotive, for one return journey from Moor Road to Park Halt and back again. See for yourself just what has to be done to make these historic machines work!

There are a number of special conditions that do have to apply to this, however, and these are as follows.

For a footplate ride you must be at least 18 years old, and not older than 76 years.
You also need to be in reasonable health - at least up to the level that is required to drive a motor car - and at the time of the experience you must not be under the influence of either drink or drugs.
No prior booking is needed: rides will be available on a first-come-first-served basis.
A special charge will apply of £20.00p, in addition to the usual fare, and this special charge will go towards Marie Curie. If you are willing to make a donation on top of this minimum charge, this will be much appreciated.
You will need to wear suitable clothes, and reasonably stout shoes. Trainers are not sufficient - they would not protect your toes if a lump of coal dropped on them!