Instead of running trains, in November the Ruislip Lido Railway will hold three evenings viewing the heavens.

From 6 pm to 8 pm on the evenings of Friday 8th, Saturday 9th, and Sunday 10th of November, the West of London Astronomical Society (WOLAS) will hold a public event at the railway observing the heavens.

Hopefully, the sky on those evenings will be clear, and if it is, visitors will be able to view the Moon, the planets Jupiter, Uranus and Saturn, and other celestial objects, including the Andromeda Galaxy and the Seven Sisters.

Everyone is invited to the free event, and members of WOLAS will be there with a selection of telescopes and ready to answer any questions visitors may have.

To help visitors, each telescope will have a coloured lamp to indicate its target image, so all visitors need to do to view a different target is to choose a differently coloured telescope.

It is likely to be a chilly evening, so visitors should wear warm clothing, and as it will be dark they should bring a torch.

However, to avoid dazzling other observers, visitors are asked to make sure their torch is not too bright, with a brightness about the same as that on a mobile phone.

Also, torches should only be used with the beam pointing downwards when on site.

As a refuge from the chill autumn evening, the railway’s Turntable tea room will be open and there are toilets at the Water’s Edge pub.

The railway is located at Reservoir Road in Ruislip, which is off the A4180 Duck’s Hill Road. The line takes passengers around the lake at Ruislip Lido and weaves through the ancient Ruislip Woods. Passengers can start and finish their journey at either of the line’s two main stations.

Woody Bay station is next to the beach & children’s splash pad and is the oldest terminus on the line, and the other station is Willow Lawn station, next to the Turntable Tea Room and car park.

At Willow Lawn station, passengers can watch their locomotive being turned on the turntable before the train heads back to Woody Bay; the station is also just a short walk from the ‘Waters Edge’ pub & carvery.
All trains on the railway are wheelchair, pushchair, and buggy friendly.

Trains are normally hauled by one of the railway’s large diesel locomotives, but steam locomotive Mad Bess, which is a half-size version of the Ffestiniog Railway’s locomotive Blanche, is sometimes used to pull trains on weekends and Bank Holidays