Source: City of Canterbury
As the Herne Bay land train trial comes to an end, we would like to say a huge thank you for the phenomenal response over the last week.
There’s been cheering, whooping, waving and a lot of choo-choo-ing!
Interest levels have massively exceeded our expectations. We’ve seen queue times of Disneyland ride proportions! Every trip has been packed to the rafters.
Incredible stuff.
We know there have been long waits on some occasions and it’s been baking hot this week as well, so your patience has been very much appreciated.
We now need to review how the trial has gone and consider what we do next.
This will cover a whole range of issues – the route, the stops, timings, pricing and its success in supporting the town’s businesses. And that’s far from an exhaustive list!
We are also very aware of the accessibility issue. As we’ve made clear throughout, an accessible carriage was not available to us for the trial, but it is a key consideration for us in any future plans.
We’ve had a few people ask why it’s only been for six days.
This was simply down to the availability of the land train. They are in high demand across the country and we turned round this trial at very short notice.
We felt having it for this period, during the Herne Bay Festival, would allow us to test it out and assess the interest.
So now it will all go quiet as we beaver away behind the scenes and work out where we go from here.
But from everyone involved here, thank you for the support and we are pleased it brought enjoyment to so many people.
And thanks also go to Stagecoach who have looked after the land train overnight for us at their depot in Herne Bay.
Published: 31 July 2026