The sound of excited squeals echoes through the tunnel, as passengers cling tightly to the train in frightful anticipation. Yes, that's right – Memorial Park Miniature Railway will get spooky this Saturday, October 29, by calling the community to board their Halloween Night Run.

Canned last Halloween due to Covid-19, the Memorial Park Miniature Railway crew is looking forward to having their Halloween Night Run return.

This will be the third Halloween run for the club and it brings a hair-raising edge to the usual rides with scary props, decorations and lighting planted around the railway.

'On the Sunday rides and other occasions, it's sort of ‘round and round you go' on the railway but with Halloween, we light up the tunnels and have all sorts of ghoulish effects,” says club vice president Bruce Harvey.

Fear crazy

Club secretary Jason Flannery says the team were 'gobsmacked” with the response from the first Halloween Night Run in 2019. 'The number of people we had was just crazy. I think we had about 1600 people on the very first one. The line was from the station to the level crossing on the other side of the park,” says Jason.

Bruce is looking forward to the colour, noise, and children's excitement for this Halloween special. 'If you're driving one of the trains and you go through the tunnels and scary figures appear around the corner, the shrieking and noise is just amazing,” says Bruce.

Glow sticks will be handed out too, creating a whirl of illuminated neon as the train goes by. 'If you're standing at the station watching the trains go around, particularly across the viaduct, and the children and the adults all have these glow sticks waving away – it's quite a colourful sight,” says Bruce.

Costume ready

Everyone is encouraged to put on their creepiest get-ups too, says Jason. 'There are a few spooky fans in the volunteer crew and the public make a very good effort.” He adds the calibre of costumes have been excellent in past runs. 'The public have really gone all out and come dressed up in all sorts of outfits,” says Jason. In regards to what spooky costume he'll be wearing, Bruce – the club's vice president – says with a laugh: 'You'll have to come along to see…

'I'll be out there driving and adding to the noise and confusion!”

The Halloween Night run is at Memorial Park railway from 6pm-9pm on Saturday, October 29. Tickets are $2 per ride. For more information, see the club's Facebook page @memorialparkrailway.