Doon Valley Railway

📌 Heritage railway & museum in Waterside, East Ayrshire
★★★

Tucked away in rural inland Ayrshire, steam trains run along a short section of track at the Doon Valley Railway (formerly the Scottish Industrial Railway Centre) on summer Sundays. It’s the main draw of a messy, no-frills attraction on the site of a former colliery and later brickworks; remains of tumbledown industrial buildings (with lots of Keep Out! signs) overlook old engines, trucks and indoor exhibition areas. The site describes itself as a “work in progress”, and it’s certainly not perfect: funds are clearly limited, display sheds are rough around the edges and rust rules the roost (and roofs). But it’s an interesting piece of history if you can get there on one of the open days.