The Leadhills & Wanlockhead Railway

Explore the lead mining museum at Wanlockhead and marvel at the skills of the lead miners who dug their shafts to below sea level and excavated miles of tunnels in their search for lead ore and silver.

Filed under Attractions

Opening times: 2017 OPENING TIMES: 7 Apr 2017 - 30 Sep 2017: Saturday – Sunday 11am-4.20pm

Train Departure Times:

Leadhills: 11am, 11.30am, 12 noon, 1.20pm, 2pm, 2.40pm, 3.20pm, 4.00pm

Glengonnar: 11.15am 11.45am 12.15am, 1.35pm, 2.15pm, 2.55pm, 3.35pm, 4.15pm

Leadhills is the home for Britain's highest narrow gauge adhesion railway, reaching 1,498 feet above sea level. Operated and managed by a team of dedicated enthusiasts, all of whom are volunteers, the railway welcomes visitors every weekend during the summer months. The Railway also run special events such as: Easter, Halloween, Santa and Steam Weekends.

On Saturdays and Sundays, the trains run frequently, with journey time taking 25 minutes. The journey takes you from the station at Leadhills to the terminus at Glengonnar halt before returning back to the station. The train runs past the disused Glengonnar Mine, where minerals were first excavated in the 1450's.

The narrow gauge track has been built on the original track bed of the Caledonian Railway and today runs a variety of historic industrial diesel locomotives. Visitors are invited to explore the signal box and railway shed, view the trains and wander around our small shop and museum.

Five of the railway's locomotives, and all of those currently in use for services, are diesel powered. Their previous working lives included spells hauling goods at Leith Docks, working on the building of the Mersey Road Tunnel and on the construction of dykes in East Anglia, and more than one worked in collieries. The railway does have one steam engine, "Charlotte" or Engine No9. She was built in Germany in 1913 and is currently being restored for eventual use hauling passenger trains.