NEARLY three weeks after Poole Park’s mini railway was closed after a carriage overturned, it has still to re-open.

But owner Chris Bullen is confident the train will again be puffing around the track within the next two weeks.

Borough of Poole officers have yet to conclude their investigations after the incident on March 23 after which a young boy passenger was taken to hospital for a check up.

Visitors to the park were disappointed to find the shutters up at the station over the Easter weekend and the popular trip around the lake closed.

The incident took place last month when the engine towing three carriages was on its third circular trip of the day around the lake.

After the first two had been completed safely the third carriage, in which three passengers were travelling, tipped over onto its side.

Chris said they were awaiting the arrival of a track specialist from Belgium: “To give us some idea of how we can stop this ever happening again.”

Anthony Rogers, recreation and community manager, Borough of Poole said: “An initial investigation has not established a clear cause of the incident.

“We are currently awaiting an engineer’s inspection report which may shed more light on the cause of the incident.

“We recognise that the railway is a popular local attraction and hope it can re-open shortly.”

However Chris said the cause was: “Some kids put some sticks in the points. It was a cheeky prank.”

The train has been running since 1949, delighting generations of youngsters visiting the park, and he said this was the first time there had been an incident.

“We have to be reactive in this situation,” he said adding that safety was of course the most important element.

He said after the incident the train had run perfectly normally for a couple of hours. Then he had taken the decision to stop it.

“It’s not like there’s a problem,” he said. “But when something nasty like this happens let’s stop, let's learn from this and let's come up with a solution.”

He added: “We are not in a hurry. We are keen to make sure everything is one hundred per cent.

“We don’t want this to ever happen again.”