A GRANDFATHER described the moment the Moors Valley railway derailed as “very odd”.

Roy, 52, with his partner Bev, 57, took his two grandchildren to Moors Valley in Ashley Heath on Wednesday.

His two grandchildren went on the railway with Bev while he sat and waited for them to return.

Roy said: “I was sat down with the picnic stuff and I saw them go round and to the top of the park where the kids play park is and it never came back.

“I thought that’s a bit strange. I waited and waited and then I saw them walking across the grass.

“My partner said the engine fell over, I said are you joking.

“I went to have a look and they were trying to push it back over.

“It is not very good with all the kids on the back, the driver must have fallen out.”

The one-mile train journey starts from Kingsmere station and follows a double loop, incorporating three tunnels before stopping at Lakeside station.

The railway only reopened on July 4, following its suspension because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Roy continued: “My partner said it just stopped and fell over on the corner.

“It didn’t make any noise or crash.

“Steam was still coming out of it which I thought was a bit dodgy.

“It was about two and a half hours before it was running again which I thought was quite amazing.

“There must have been a reason why it fell over.”

A spokesperson for the Moors Valley railway said: “We have not found anything untoward with the locomotive.

“We can only put it down to maybe something on the line, that is the only explanation we have for it.

“As far as we are concerned, it is no major incident.”

A spokesperson for Dorset Council confirmed railway journeys started shortly after the incident and nobody was injured.

They said: “The driving carriage at the front of the train derailed on a straight section of track stayed fully upright, while the carriages with people remained on the track.

“No-one was hurt, railway journeys resumed again shortly afterwards, and the team are currently investigating why the derailment happened.”

A Forestry England spokesperson echoed this, confirming nobody was hurt.