The BBC’s The Primrose Railway Children was filmed in Glasgow’s Bellahouston and Pollokshields, Luss, Loch Lomond, Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway, Birkhill Station, St Fillans Railway Path Tunnel and Strathavon Park.
You can visit most of these locations in Scotland, and even ride a real steam train through the Primrose Railway station!
Adapted from Jacqueline Wilson’s book The Primrose Railway Children, the BBC film is inspired by E. Nesbit’s The Railway Children.
Set in the present day, it follows Sarah Robinson (Nina Toussaint-White) who moves her family from Glasgow to the Scottish Highlands after their dad, Rob Robinson (Kevin McKidd) gets into trouble.
In their new village home, Phoebe (Ava McCarthy), Becks (Ida Brooke) and Perry (Tylan Bailey) find a new home-from-home at the local steam railway, the Primrose Railway.
The Primrose Railway Children. Provided by TMDB API
The Primrose Railway Filming Locations
From seemingly endless forests to fascinating heritage railway lines, The Primrose Railway Children filming locations reach across South Lanarkshire, Perthshire, Falkirk and Argyll and Bute and include Paisley Road West in Glasgow, Bo’ness, Birkhill Station, St Fillans, Luss, Trossachs National Park and St Fillans.
The Primrose Railway Locations
Glasgow Scenes
In The Primrose Railway Children, the Glasgow scenes were filmed around Pollokshields, Andreston, Kinning Park and Bellahouston.
As reported in summer 2024 by local press, Glasgow City Council warned about road closures for filming around Saltmarket and Greendyke Street, Jocelyn Square, Mart Street, Argyle Street, Little Street, Netherby Drive, Albert Drive, Walmer Crescent, Paisley Road West and Percy Street.
The Robinsons’ Glasgow Home
Thomas Nugent / Paisley Road West
The Robinsons’ house location in The Primrose Railway Children is around Paisley Road West in Bellahouston, within Glasgow’s southside.
It’s not far from the rolling green space of Bellahouston Park and its big attraction, Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s House for an Art Lover. Though of course, they don’t stay in the neighbourhood for long.
In the CBBC Jacqueline Wilson film, the Robinson family live in Glasgow until their father disappears and their hard-working mum takes them to live in a small village in the Highlands.
The Village
DS Pugh / Cottages at Luss
BBC Studios’ The Primrose Railway Children village location is Luss by Loch Lomond, on the boundary between the Highlands and Lowlands. Look out for Pier Road in Luss as the kids run up the street, with the pier and Loch Lomond beyond.
Luss conservation village is just a short distance from Balloch and Glasgow beyond, to the southeast. You may have seen it onscreen before in Falling for Figaro, Annika or Take the High Road.
It’s surrounded by Scotland’s scenic Trossachs National Park, with Ben Lomond towering behind it – look out for it in some of the earlier scenes.
And this location is very easy to visit, with local walking routes and even a local Faerie Trail to explore.
The Primrose Railway
The real Primrose Railway locations are Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway, Strathavon Miniature Railway and St Fillans, all in Scotland.
Most of the Primrose Railway scenes were filmed at Bo’ness and Birkhill in summer 2024. Here’s which railway appears in which scene in the movie.
The Railway Station
Birkhill Station by K A, CC BY-SA 2.0
The Primrose Railway Station location in the new Jacqueline Wilson adaptation is Birkhill Station on the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway. It’s a popular filming location that’s previously appeared in the likes of Ordeal by Innocence, the 2018 BBC One Agatha Christie adaptation.
And you can ride a real train along the line past this station! Here’s how to book tickets on the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway from The Primrose Railway Children.
They run a mixture of heritage diesel and steam trains, as well as special events.
Steam Locomotive
Some shots of the steam locomotive show the Scottish Railway Preservation Society’s steam locomotive No. 419 (55189), while close-ups of the steam locomotive in The Primrose Railway Children also show Strathaven Miniature Railway’s Cairhill.
This small-scale version was blackened to look like a full-size working locomotive. The shoots took place in Glasgow and at the home of Scotland’s oldest miniature railway in Strathaven Park, South Lanarkshire.
The full-scale locomotive from The Primrose Railway Children was constructed in Glasgow in 1907 for the Caledonian Railway.
But for years it’s been the SRPS’ flagship locomotive, and has been at Bo’ness since 1983.
Railway Tunnel
The Primrose Railway Children’s tunnel filming location is the Railway Path Tunnel at St Fillans in Perthshire. Filming for BBC’s update of The Railway Children tunnel scene took place in early August 2024.
It once belonged to the Lochearnhead, St Fillans and Comrie Railway, with the line later being sold to the Caledonian Railway.
But nowadays it’s part of the Loch Earn Railway Path, a walking path along the route of the long-disused railway line.
The Railway Children
The Railway Children. Provided by TMDB API
If that’s not enough railway adventure for you, catch up with the filming locations from The Railway Children 1970 or the recent The Railway Children Return.
Like The Primrose Railway Children, both movies were filmed on steam railways and around real villages you can visit!