Take control of one of our steam locomotives for yourself!
If you fancy having a go, then you have two options, a full day driving experience, an evening experience or a taster experience. If you just fancy getting a driver’s eye view then you can then you can purchase a footplate ride on the locomotive footplate of any scheduled service.
Evening Experience — Steam £200 / Diesel £75
Your chance to have a go at driving our steam engine or a Diesel locomotive for a return trip or two at the end of the day. You’ll join the driver (and fireman) for the last train of the day on board our locomotive. Then, when the passengers have gone home, it’s your turn.
After a short introduction to how it works, you’ll take the locomotive up and down the line by itself (light engine), before returning to collect the carriages to do it again. A Guest can travel in the carriages of the train you are driving. The line is only three quarters of a mile long, but this means that you get to try main line running, and turning the train round in a short space of time. An added bonus of this course is that it’s a one-to-one experience; you won’t be sharing the footplate with anyone else.
- Steam Experiences are available on any afternoons when we are running a steam service.
- Diesel Experiences are available on any day we are running a diesel service.
- have a look at the timetable to find out more. Please contact us for further details.
Steam Full Day Driving Experience — £700
You will get the railway to yourself for the day and individual instruction from our driver and fireman. An added bonus of this course is that it’s a one-to-one experience; you won’t be sharing the footplate with anyone else.
The day starts with preparation of the locomotive. You’ll learn how to build the fire (including the right and wrong way). Once you’ve oiled round, and the steam pressure is up, you can try your hand at a few trips “light engine”, without the carriages. We then pause for lunch.
Then, in the afternoon, you’ll couple up to the train and set off up the line, before running round for the return journey. We will repeat this a number of times as time allows. Guests can travel in the carriages of the train you are driving. Test your new driving skills by seeing if you can buffer up without hitting the coaches too hard!
Available on certain selected Fridays in April, May, July and October.
2024 Full day driver experience dates
19th April, 26th April, 3rd May, 24th May, 19th July, 4th October, 11th October & 18th October.
Course includes lunch and a full safety briefing. If you aren’t already a member it also includes a year’s introductory free membership of the WHR Ltd., and we hope you will then stay with us for many years to come.
A taster Experience. Steam £45 – Diesel £25
New for 2024. Want to just give it a go or on a tight budget, maybe our taster experience is the one for you. A short experience, which will last approximately 15 minutes, after a short instruction on how our locomotive works you will get your hands on the controls for a single round trip light engine. This means you get to drive from Porthmadog to Pen-y-mount and return.
Steam Experiences are available on any afternoons when we are running a steam service (group bookings of up to 4 participants can be accommodated on your chosen steam date) or in 15 minute daytime bookable slots on the following dates:
21st April, 28th April, 6th October & 13th October.
Diesel experiences are available on any day we are running a diesel service.
How to book
If you’d like to book any course or just want a bit more information please send an e-mail to bookings@whr.co.uk.
Terms & Conditions
Sorry, you must be over 18 to drive our steam and diesel locomotives. Steam locomotives can be dirty, hot and noisy places, so you’ll need to bring suitable clothing - we can give you more advice before the day. We’ll do everything we can to help if any problems crop up, but we can’t be held responsible for additional expenses (e.g. hotel bills) if we have to reschedule because of problems beyond our control (e.g. the steam locomotive breaks down). Cancellations must be notified at least 72 hours before the date of the course.
