Following last year’s very successful Steam Gala, the Ruislip Lido Railway is repeating the event this year on the May Day bank holiday weekend, Sunday, 3rd and Monday, 4th May.

Located at Ruislip, in the London Borough of Hillingdon, this is a 12-inch miniature railway that always produces surprises. This year, there will be two visiting steam locomotives, Victoria from the Statfold Barn Railway & Museum at Tamworth in Staffordshire, and Christopher from the Littlehampton Miniature Railway in West Sussex.

Victoria is a 2-4-2T that was built in 2007 by the Exmoor Steam Railway. Originally destined for the Tintern Steam Railway in Monmouthshire, that venture never took off, and instead Victoria went on static display at the Scarborough Fair Collection in North Yorkshire, until being purchased in 2021 by the Statfold Narrow Gauge Museum Trust, and sent to Expoor for overhaul.

In March 2023, Victoria finally entered operational service at the opening of Statfold’s 12 ¼–inch gauge Mease Valley Light Railway.

This will be the second time Victoria has visited the Ruislip Lido Railway, following its visit there in 2025.

Christopher was also constructed by the Exmoor Steam Railway, but as a 0-6-2T. Originally named Lorna Doone in 1991, it hauled trains at Exmoor until 2000 before being sold to the Beale Park Railway near Reading, where it was renamed John Remy and modified to 10 ¼-inch gauge. In 2017, Christopher was purchased by Tom Sanders, the Chief Engineer of the Littlehampton Miniature Railway, who rebuilt it as a 2-6-2T locomotive, which reflects its origins at Exmoor. This will be Christopher’s fourth year as an attraction at the Ruislip Lido Railway.

The Steam Gala in May will feature three trains in operation, running a service every 15 minutes from 11:00 to 17:00. The weekend will also allow visitors to look around the workshop and yard, and for £5, drive John Rennie and Bayhurst on a 750-metre section of the line.

Further information and booking details are online at https://tickets.ruisliplidorailway.org