Welcome to the website of the Barnards Miniature Railway. We are a 7 1/4 miniature railway that runs around the grounds of Barnards Farm Gardens, in Brentwood, Essex.
We are scheduled to re-open after Winter maintenance in April 2026. We will be open on alternating Sundays between April and October, as well as some Thursdays during half term and summer holidays. All of our open days are posted here on our website and on our official Facebook account.
We are scheduled to re-open after Winter maintenance in April 2026. We will be open on alternating Sundays between April and October, as well as some Thursdays during half term and summer holidays.
All of our open days are posted here on our website and on our official Facebook account.
We offer steam hauled trains from our main station at Burtonshaw to Sitooterie Halt station. Diesel trains operate further to Angel Green Station. On limited days only, we operate a special ‘Barnards Belle’ pullman style service to the Lake End station.
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Plan your visit to us now.
The miniature railway is operated by a group of volunteers on behalf of The Christabella Charitable Trust, a charity registered in England No. 800610, within its property situated at Barnards Farm, West Horndon, CM13 3FY. All funds raised are used for its charitable purposes, further details available from The Charities Commission (www.charitycommission.gov.uk)
Our standard Train Ticket Prices are as follows:
£7 – Return Ticket
£10 – Rover Ticket & ride all day!
Card Payments only on the day.
Pre-booking for the railway is only required for certain special events (shown light blue in the list below), otherwise you can just turn up on the day.
The Barnards Farm Gardens are open as follows:
Every Thursday from 4th June 2026 to 25th June 2026 inclusive open for the National Garden Scheme – Ground open from 11:00 to 16:30. Picnickers welcome in designated areas.
Every Thursday from 2nd July 2026 to 3rd September 2026 inclusive open for The Christabella Charitable Trust – Ground open from 11:00 to 16:30. Picnickers welcome in designated areas.
We will be operating the Barnards Miniature Railway every Thursday during the school holidays during the garden open day season from 11am until 4pm. We are pleased that we are now able to extend the journey further to ‘Sitooterie Halt’ which makes the ride 1½ miles return. The trips will be every 20 minutes and last about 25 minutes. The trains will be hauled by diesel locomotives from our heritage Mardyke collection, although steam locomotives may appear if available on some trains. On some days it may be possible as an add on to ride a shorter route on one of our sit in Electric Multiple Units to Belvedere and back.
Please note that on Thursdays you also do need to have a separate Garden entry ticket prebooked and payable via the National Garden Scheme App or NGS Website. Garden Admission, on Thursday is £10* for adults; children are free.
We are currently serving light refreshments in Burton Shaw station.
Kindly also note that dogs are not permitted unless they are guide dogs.
*This represents a charitable donation to The Christabella Charitable Trust (Registered in England No. 800610) used entirely for its charitable purposes.