Railworld Wildlife Haven at a glance
- What
- Railway heritage, model railways, engineering and an urban wildlife haven
- Where
- Oundle Road, Peterborough, PE2 9NR
- Created
- A volunteer-led charity established in 1985
- Former use
- A railway coal yard serving Peterborough Power Station
- Look out for
- Model railways, wildlife gardens, Globe Hall and RTV 31 Hovertrain
- Best for
- Families, railway enthusiasts, engineering fans, wildlife lovers and curious explorers
Where else can you move from miniature railways to an experimental hovertrain, wander through wildlife gardens and stand on land once covered by Peterborough’s railway industry?
Railworld Wildlife Haven is one of Peterborough’s most unusual visitor attractions because several stories collide in one place. It is part railway museum, part engineering collection, part environmental education centre and part remarkable wildlife garden.
The site began with perhaps the least promising landscape imaginable: a derelict coal yard beside the railway and the River Nene. Coal had once been stored here for Peterborough Power Station. Railway infrastructure, industrial ground and the river defined the site.
Then volunteers began changing it. Ponds appeared. Trees and flowers were planted. Railway artefacts were preserved. Model railways grew. Bridges, paths and habitats were created. What had been an industrial service yard gradually became somewhere people could come to explore transport history and nature side by side.
Start here, then discover the city the railway created
Railworld sits inside a much larger story. Railways turned Peterborough into a major junction, brought thousands of jobs, accelerated industry and helped transform a cathedral town into a modern city.
What to discover at Railworld
The attraction rewards wandering. One moment you are studying railway engineering, the next you are beside a pond, peering into a model landscape or discovering a machine that once promised to reinvent high-speed travel.
Model railways
Explore more than 2,000 square feet of detailed railway layouts, with stations, landscapes, trains and operating scenes recreating the fascination of the railway world at a smaller scale.
Transport heritage
Historic vehicles, photographs, structures and artefacts connect Railworld directly to Peterborough’s long history as one of Britain’s great railway junctions.
RTV 31 Hovertrain
Encounter the surviving vehicle from Britain’s tracked-hovercraft experiment, an extraordinary attempt to combine hovercraft technology with high-speed guided transport.
Wildlife Haven
Follow paths through ponds, planting, waterfalls and habitats created where coal and railway infrastructure once dominated the landscape.
Globe Hall Earth Centre
Explore displays linking energy, transport, environmental responsibility and the wider challenge of how people use the planet’s resources.
A volunteer achievement
Railworld is also a story about what sustained local effort can achieve when people choose to restore, reuse, plant, preserve and build rather than abandon a place.
The transformation is part of the attraction.
It is easy to enjoy the ponds and planting without realising just how industrial this landscape once was.
The ground formed part of Peterborough’s railway and energy infrastructure, storing coal for the nearby power station. Rail sidings and heavy industry were integral to the site.
Railworld’s volunteers chose not to erase that history. Instead, railway structures and artefacts were woven into a new landscape of habitats, water and planting.
The result is a compelling demonstration of how former industrial land can acquire an entirely new life.
Explore Peterborough’s industrial story
Railway heritage everywhere
Railworld preserves the machinery, structures and visual language of a city profoundly shaped by rail.
Whole worlds in miniature
Detailed layouts recreate railway scenes and give younger visitors a wonderfully accessible route into railway history.
Meet RTV 31, Britain’s experimental Hovertrain.
Railworld contains one of the strangest survivors of Britain’s search for a new generation of high-speed transport.
Rather than running conventionally on steel wheels, tracked-hovercraft technology was designed to support vehicles on a cushion of air while guiding them along a dedicated track.
RTV 31 survives from that experimental programme, preserving a moment when engineers were asking whether the future of fast land travel might look completely different.
Its presence at Railworld makes the attraction about more than railway nostalgia. It connects Victorian transport history with technological experimentation and the question of what mobility might become next.
Peterborough was made by railways
Railworld makes much more sense when placed into Peterborough’s wider history.
The city’s first railway station opened in 1845. Within a few years further lines arrived, the Great Northern Railway connected Peterborough directly with London and the town became a strategically important junction.
Railways did far more than move passengers. They created employment, brought skilled workers into Peterborough and helped industries such as brickmaking and engineering reach national markets.
By 1900, Peterborough Museum records that around one in four adults in the city were railway employees. Railway history is therefore not a specialist side story here. It is fundamental to understanding how modern Peterborough emerged.
Explore the complete transformation through Peterborough’s Railway Story.
Then walk next door and watch the real trains move.
Railworld sits immediately beside Peterborough Nene Valley station, creating one of Peterborough’s best combinations for railway enthusiasts and families.
Nene Valley Railway
Step from models and exhibits into a real heritage railway journey through the Nene Valley behind steam and heritage diesel locomotives.
The bigger picturePeterborough’s Railway Story
Discover how railways built industries, neighbourhoods, engineering skills and a new identity for the city.
Follow the river westNene Park
Continue along the Nene into meadows, lakes, woodland and the wider green landscape through which the heritage railway runs.
1845 and beyondPeterborough Timeline
Place the railway revolution within the much longer story of Peterborough, from deep time to the modern city.
Stop looking at the trains for a moment.
Part of Railworld’s charm is the deliberate contrast between engineering and ecology.
Water, flowers, trees and wildlife occupy ground once associated with coal, industry and rail sidings. Historic structures are reused rather than hidden, so the site never pretends the industrial past did not exist.
That mixture makes Railworld particularly engaging for families and mixed-interest groups. Someone fascinated by trains and someone more interested in gardens or wildlife can explore the same attraction in completely different ways.
Continue into Peterborough’s green spacesEngineering, imagination and the future
Railworld’s railway collection tells one story of technological change, while RTV 31 tells another.
Peterborough has a long relationship with engineering innovation, from railway workshops and heavy industry to businesses whose machinery travelled around the world.
Seen in that context, experimental transport technology feels remarkably appropriate here. It reminds visitors that engineers have always had to imagine machines that did not yet exist, test ideas that might fail and ask how people could move more quickly or efficiently.
For the wider industrial story, explore Peterborough Business History.
Planning your visit
- Where to find Railworld
- Railworld Wildlife Haven is on Oundle Road, Peterborough, PE2 9NR, beside the River Nene and close to the city centre.
- Before you travel
- Visit the official Railworld Wildlife Haven website for current visitor days, admission, access arrangements and exhibit information.
- Indoor and outdoor attraction
- Railworld combines indoor railway and environmental displays with outdoor gardens, ponds, paths and heritage structures, so allow time to explore both parts of the site.
- Accessibility
- The attraction includes historic structures and outdoor paths with varying surfaces. Contact Railworld directly if you need information about a particular route or exhibit.
- Combine with the heritage railway
- Peterborough Nene Valley station is immediately beside Railworld. Check the Nene Valley Railway separately if you want to combine both attractions.
- Arriving by rail
- Peterborough’s mainline railway station is within walking distance, making Railworld an especially appropriate first stop for anyone arriving in the city by train.
Discover Peterborough tip: treat Railworld and the Nene Valley Railway as two halves of one railway day. Explore the models, engineering and wildlife first, then step next door and experience heritage railways at full scale.
Continue exploring Peterborough
Railworld opens several different journeys into Peterborough, from working heritage railways and industrial history to riverside landscapes and family days out.
Peterborough’s Railway Story
Discover how the railway transformed a cathedral town into a major junction, industrial centre and modern city.
Explore the railway historyNene Valley Railway
Step aboard steam and heritage diesel trains from the station immediately beside Railworld and travel through the Nene Valley.
Discover the railwayNene Park
Continue west into lakes, woodland, meadows, walking routes and one of Peterborough’s great outdoor landscapes.
Explore Nene ParkPeterborough Business History
Follow the railways into the wider story of engineering, brickmaking, manufacturing and the businesses that reshaped Peterborough.
Explore the industrial cityPeterborough Timeline
Place railway expansion and industrial growth within the full chronological story of Peterborough.
Travel through timeMore things to do
Find more family attractions, heritage, outdoor experiences, culture and memorable places across Peterborough.
Find more experiencesPlan your visit to Railworld Wildlife Haven
For current visitor days, access guidance and everything you need before travelling, check Railworld’s official website.