5
Full steam ahead for disabled access.
We never set out to visit this museum, the sign caught my dad's eye when exploring the Carrickfergus area. I wasn't so excited by the idea of a train museum, but dad wanted to have a look.
From the outside it looked as I expected an old platform with a station turned into cafe and a signal box - great! However that's not what it was at all.
Robin, a volunteer guide came to say hi and asked if we'd like a tour. Why not, we thought, paid our money and off we went. We headed in the direction of the signal box, as I was in my power chair I was expecting to have to wait at the bottom while dad went in, but no, they had a platform lift and had designed the inside to have plenty room for me to move and see things. Robin was great explaining things and showing me how they worked. Dad was able to pull some of the levers and see signals change - I couldn't reach unfortunately.
Thinking that was it, we followed Robin back to the station, but he kept walking so we carried on. We rounded a corner and seen just how huge the place was, there were engine sheds, maintenance sheds, turntables, a visitors centre and lots of old machines to look at. Each one had full disabled access, half way round there were even toilets.
I'm no train enthusiast but it was so engaging and interactive. Some of the volunteers were fixing the engines, and would stop to explain what they were doing, the process to fix the item etc. Robin was so informative and put up with my endless questions.
One of the best bits was near the end of the tour, they had some 1920's trains and carriages you could look in. Not only was there a raised platform you could go along to see in them, but they had a lift to get me up there and a ramp that took me into the bigger carriage (only happened to be the Guinness one!).
In all the tour was about an hour and a half, but we could honestly have been there all day.
After chatting to the manager and some more volunteers we headed back to the cafe for a cuppa. Lovely place, good tea. Didn't have time for food, but the menu sounded lovely.
We never set out to visit this museum, the sign caught my dad's eye when exploring the Carrickfergus area. I wasn't so excited by the idea of a train museum, but dad wanted to have a look.
From the outside it looked as I expected an old platform with a station turned into cafe and a signal box - great! However that's not what it was at all.
Robin, a volunteer guide came to say hi and asked if we'd like a tour. Why not, we thought, paid our money and off we went. We headed in the direction of the signal box, as I was in my power chair I was expecting to have to wait at the bottom while dad went in, but no, they had a platform lift and had designed the inside to have plenty room for me to move and see things. Robin was great explaining things and showing me how they worked. Dad was able to pull some of the levers and see signals change - I couldn't reach unfortunately.
Thinking that was it, we followed Robin back to the station, but he kept walking so we carried on. We rounded a corner and seen just how huge the place was, there were engine sheds, maintenance sheds, turntables, a visitors centre and lots of old machines to look at. Each one had full disabled access, half way round there were even toilets.
I'm no train enthusiast but it was so engaging and interactive. Some of the volunteers were fixing the engines, and would stop to explain what they were doing, the process to fix the item etc. Robin was so informative and put up with my endless questions.
One of the best bits was near the end of the tour, they had some 1920's trains and carriages you could look in. Not only was there a raised platform you could go along to see in them, but they had a lift to get me up there and a ramp that took me into the bigger carriage (only happened to be the Guinness one!).
In all the tour was about an hour and a half, but we could honestly have been there all day.
After chatting to the manager and some more volunteers we headed back to the cafe for a cuppa. Lovely place, good tea. Didn't have time for food, but the menu sounded lovely.
