Full steam ahead as Doncaster celebrates railway heritage with week long festival

Doncaster Rail Week kicks off on Thursday with a week of events to celebrate our town's lasting contribution to the railway industry.

The famous Doncaster Grammar School railway collection, a massive horde of railway memorabilia from the golden age of steam, will go on show at the Mansion House from Thursday through to February 18.

Selected items from the haul, collected over many years, will be brought into the limelight giving visitors a rare chance to see signs, nameplates and other railway artefacts from down the decades.

The exhibition will open from 11am to 4pm daily and entry is free.

Elswehere, Doncaster Brewery on Young Street will be launching a new 'rail ale' on February 12 from noon while model railway fans should make tracks for Doncaster Racecourse on Saturday and Sunday for the Festival of British Railway Modelling. The event will included dozens of huge model railway layouts and takes place from 10am to 5pm on Saturday and 10am to 4.30pm on Sunday.

Tickets are £9 for adults and £4.50 for children.

On Saturday, at the Mansion House, rail buffs will be able to meet Patrick Stirling, the great, great grandson of the famous railway engineer of the same name, who will be displaying a model of a Stirling Single between 11am and 4pm. Entry is free.

Completing the line-up on February 13, also at the Mansion House, is the Doncaster Railway Convention.

The event takes place between 2pm and 4pm when the team behind the Cock O' The North project, an ambitious scheme to rebuild full-size locomotive in Doncaster, will update enthusiasts on the work.

Railways and Railwaymen, a guided tour of Hyde Park Cemetery, telling the stories of some of Doncaster's railway engineers, will take place on February 14 from 3pm.

For more information about all the events, contact Doncaster Tourism on 01302 734309.