Steam Trains and Fairytales | MinistryOfSteampunk

STEAM TRAINS AND FAIRYTALES
Midland Railway Trust, Butterley

17-18 May 2025

After enjoying Steampunk Fairytale Weekends at Belvoir and Tutbury Castles the last three years, in 2025 we are off to the Midland Railway Trust at Butterley Station and Swanwick Junction for a Steampunk Fairytale Weekend with a difference - Steam Trains!

Visitors arriving at Butterley Station will be subject to various checks (passport control, declarations of health against fae disease etc.) and will then be transported by Steam Train to the main site at Swanwick Junction.

At Swanwick Junction you will find a large green, multiple engine sheds, diesel and steam trains, exhibitions, model raiways, garden railways, cafes, a bar and so much more to entertain you. The views of the surrounding countryside are fabulous and there is an adjacent country park.

During the day you will be able to ride the trains from Swanwick back to Butterley and to the lake beyond. Who knows, we may even be able to 'run' some features that take place exclusively on the trains?

At Swanwich there is a chapel and there are classrooms suitable for talks and other features too.

Of course on the green at Swanwick (see below) we will have a curated Steampunk market and you can expect a a few extra Steampunk exhibits added amongst the simply enormous number of permanent features.

Our last two Steampunk Fairytale events have welcomed many visitors in stunning outfits - from Fairies to Disney Princesses, from Snow White and Cinderella to Red Riding Hood and some big bad wolves, from Mad Hatters to furries and woodland creatures.

All will be welcome again at Butterley; it will be the perfect location with 'something for everyone', a real family destination.

But the location at Butterley and Swanwick also lends itself to the grittier side of fae and pucks and other fairytale creatures living in Victorian England as depicted in the Amazon Prime series Carnival Row. So if you don't fancy coming as a Disney Princess, maybe a downtrodden fae or a misunderstood puck will appeal?

The Butterley Station and Swanwick Junction locations at the Midland Railway Trust offer us all the most amazing playground where with your help we hope to create a fabulous event. Just as the extraordinary facilities at Blists Hill Victorian Town have enabled us to bring back The Town That Never Was seven times to date (and our eigth visit will be in 2025), we expect to 'grow' into Butterley Station and Swanwick Junction too as we bring our Steampunk creativity, joy and magnificience to this most excellent location.

More information will of course follow, but for now these few words are just a taste of what's to come.

The images taken below are a mixture of photos taken at Belvoir and Tutbury and the locations that await us at Butterley Station and Swanwick Junction.