Thomas the Tamworth Engine
Drayton Manor may not quite compete with Alton Towers and Thorpe Park, but it doesn’t do badly for a family run business in Tamworth. It’s certainly worth a visit once or twice a year. And so it was on a rainy Monday at the beginning of July that I found myself in Thomas Land, Drayton Manor’s big new investment for 2008.
While a number of Drayton’s past installations have lacked the visual polish that they’d get at theme parks with larger budgets, Thomas Land looks fantastic. The level of detail is almost incomparable against the rest of the park.
Along with new rides like the surprisingly fast Harold’s Heli Tours and the Troublesome Trucks Rollercoaster, Drayton’s old train down to the zoo has been given a spruce up. Visitors can now ride in Annie and Clarabel as Thomas pulls them along to Tidmouth Halt. We of course had to take a ride: the train stops right outside one of my favourite museums in the UK - The Bryans Museum featuring loads of their old slot machines in full working order.
Cranky's Drop Tower
Troublesome Trucks - the ONLY new rollercoaster in the UK this year
The new station
Quite a rainy day at Drayton
I even had my own seat
What's a theme park day without ducks?
Great photos, particularly the one below the “rainy day”. Who took it?
Aug 1st, 2008 at 8:43 pm
It was a lady who kept following me around all day - no idea who she was, but later she tried to set fire to the Pirate Ship.
Aug 2nd, 2008 at 10:24 am