Drusillas Park Railway 09

Several shots of the Drusillas Park Railway in Alfriston, East Sussex taken on Sunday 11th October 2009. Information on this relatively new 2ft gauge stock has been documented and states; "Although the sight of a large feathered crane is not uncommon within a zoo, the crane on course to land at Drusillas Park this week is perhaps a little more unusual. In preparation of the Thomas & Friends TM attraction opening at Easter, a large mechanical crane has been hired to lift the new train onto the track when it arrives from Germany on Thursday 29th March 2007. The bespoke Thomas & Friends train will be delivered between 1pm and 3pm. By the time it reaches Drusillas, it will have travelled over 400 miles by lorry from the Metallbau-Emmeln factory in Germany, where it has been carefully constructed over the past six months. Following the removal of Drusillas existing safari train ride, the 3.5 tonne Thomas engine will then be lifted by crane onto the rails, along with the passenger carriages, Annie and Clarabel. In the days immediately following, both the train and railway will go through a series of stringent safety checks. The new attraction is due to open to the public on 31st March 2007, with the official opening ceremony with the Fat Controller on 5th April. RMA Ltd have been commissioned to theme the railway at Drusillas in keeping with the Thomas stories. Once operational, the new Thomas & Friends passenger train will take visitors on a magical ride from Tidmouth Hault. As well as Thomas, Annie and Clarabel, there will be the chance to see James in the engine shed, Cranky at the Sodor dockyard, along with Diesel and the Fat Controller around the track. The Thomas & Friends train comes to Drusillas after Directors, Laurence and Christine Smith signed a long term deal with HIT Entertainment, one of the worlds leading independent childrens entertainment and rights owners. The project represents a £400,000 investment for the Park and will make Drusillas the first UK location to have Thomas as a permanent attraction."

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• drusillas
• park
• zoo
• miniature
• 2ft
• narrow
• gauge
• railway
• train
• alfriston
• east
• sussex
• metallbau-emmeln
• thomas
• and
• friends

[Eddy2730]

No offence but I guarantee that the Rev. Awdry would be spinning in his grave.

[UKWMO]

Yes possibly - think I see what you mean.

[artist794]

um this is one of the weirdest thomas train rides ive seen the station and ride route seem great but there are very stupid mistakes on the characters that even lttle kids will pick up on. anyone else going to see jamesface in ur nightmares

[thomasandfriends47]

James' face looks like dens face.

[HyperActive1OO]

my dad told me the other day that when we used to go to drusillas and went on the train there was a conductor near the end of the ride and he said that i threw a stone at it and broke hahahaha i dnt remember it though

[OperationAnime262]

Just enjoy it everyone don't moan about it!

[thomasrosiefan1]

What happened to the original zoo train???

[UltimatePear]

do i her a spinning sound?

[ThomasRocksification]

very interesting