The miniature railway at Riverside Park will be taking passengers again from Sunday (Aug 2) – for the first time since the lockdown.
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The Southampton Society of Model Engineers, which runs the railway, will be putting - initially electric - trains on the ground level track only, as the raised track is still under maintenance.
It’s hoped trains will then run every Sunday until October.
Club treasurer David Goyder, left, said that it has actually been a bit of a relief not to have to go down to the railway every week over the last few months.
“An awful lot of our members are in that vulnerable over-70 group – I’m 79 – so staying away from the potential of getting the Covid-19 was a very happy situation,” he said.
“We’ve been doing maintenance on the track for the last three weeks or so, cutting the grass and cutting the brambles.”
“We’ve had a lot of people coming along while we’ve been doing maintenance who said ‘when are you going to open the railway, when’s it going to happen’, and we’ve been a bit vague up until now but we thought we’d try it.
“I think we’re living within the restrictions. We’re going to keep people far apart.”
Measures to comply with Covid-19 guidelines will include only running one train at a time, regular cleaning of coaches, and encouraging social distancing and passengers to wear a mask.
Train rides cost the usual £1 per person: you can pay with cash or go contactless using the society’s new card machine.
Previously
Accessible carriage launched for Riverside steam railway