7¼" gauge in the garden

Weymouth Miniature Railway, Dorset

My Mother's aunt lived in Weymouth on the British south coast, and during my school summer holidays we used to regularly spend a week at "the seaside". I have quite strong memories of at least one visit to the line probably in the mid-1970s.

I am always interested to receive more information and / or photos of the line, so please drop me an email if you can help me.

History

In 1947 David Curwen was approached to build a 10¼" loco for a railway at Hilsea. The owner wanted a pacific-type loco (4-6-2) and they settled on a design similar to an LNER A-1 class. "Curly" (the well known engineer who wrote in the British magazine Model Engineer) had described a loco of this type, calling it HIGHLAND LASSIE. The loco had Baker rather than Walschaerts valve-gear so was not totally accurate, but it was built to be rugged rather than a finescale replica. David and Richard Ripley (who were in business together) decided to build a second loco for themselves and numbered it 2647; at some later date it was named ROBIN HOOD.

David and Richard then set about trying to find a site to establish a passenger-carrying railway and found Weymouth Council were receptive to their ideas. This resulted in a line being built on the western side of Radipole Lake. The line of about 1100 yards was originally built as an out-and-back line from Westham Car Park to the terminus adjoining the Abbotsbury Road. The railway was constructed on land that had been reclaimed by filling in part of Radipole Lake and at one point it passed under the Great Western Railway's line to Portland; this is clearly visible in the photos below. Until the turning loop was completed, trains ran out to the terminus and then pushed the train back to the starting point.

The railway was taken over by Mr. Newton of Weymouth who bought ROBIN HOOD and five passenger carriages. Sometime between 1963 and 1968, Mr. Newton sold it to Chipperfield's Circus who were the owners until its closure in 1982; the area has now been redeveloped.

Items of interest

The 80' long station building was moved to Weymouth from Southend on Sea
The base of the turntable was rebuilt from a Second World War searchlight
The first driver on the line was a Mr. Wiltshire

Locomotives

ROBIN HOOD (2647 renumbered 2001 in 1959)

The first locomotive at Weymouth was David Curwen's LNER-type pacific number 2647 built in 1947. (David's builder numbers at this time were day, month, year of completion, so 2647 was 2^nd June 1947). At some point the loco was named ROBIN HOOD. (If anyone knows when I would like to hear from them)

ROBIN HOOD is known to have once taken a nose-dive into Radipole Lake when it ran off the turntable. Damage was apparently slight as she was back in service the following day.

ROBIN HOOD went on to operate at Audley End and on the Oakhill Manor Miniature Railway. When this line closed in 1987, the loco went in to storage in the hope that a buyer for the whole railway could be found. When no buyer surfaced, Joe Nemeth Engineering Ltd. bought the loco (and other equipment) from Oakhill and restored it.

As of March 2008 ROBIN HOOD is undergoing a complete overhaul for use on a line in Berkshire.

2005 (Named BLACK PRINCE upon arrival at Weymouth)

In 1948 a Mr. Briggs of the Bognor Regis Miniature Railway approached David Curwen to build two more pacifics. David felt that a pacific-type had too long a coupled-wheelbase for amusement park lines (which tended to have sharper curves) so settled on an atlantic (4-4-2). As the loco no longer resembled any specific British design, David gave the locos an American-outline.

David eventually made a total of six locos to this design, two of which David and Richard kept for their own use. One of these ended up Weymouth.

Supplied new to Skegness Miniature Railway in 1952, 2005 was moved to Weymouth by August 1953. She was worn out by 1971 when bought by Jack Doyle of Manchester.

2005 has since operated at Loughborough and on the Isle of Mull. Now (March 2008) named WAVERLEY she is based on the Rudyard Lake Railway in Staffordshire.

A photograph of WAVERLEY on the Isle of Mull Railway shows her as rebuilt with a more British outline.

MERRIE ENGLAND (2006)

Another of the atlantics and also built in 1952, MERRIE ENGLAND went to Weymouth in 1953 painted in cream. (She was also fitted with streamlined shrouds). She was named after Weymouth Council's liaison officer Mr. England. By 1964 she had been sold to a private owner in Sutton Coldfield who later moved to Aberystwyth (taking the loco with him). Status unknown as of 2008.

Other locos

The internal-combustion loco shown in the photo below was the only locomotive built by Universal Engineering of Bournemouth and, apparently, wasn't a success.

Rolling stock

There were five bogie-coaches with simple, slatted wooden seats.

Photos

So far I have only managed to locate a handful of photographs of the line (other than in The Miniature Locomotives of David Curwen - see below). Nick Tozer sent me the following two images he believes were taken in 1972. You can clearly see the Great Western / British Rail line in the background.

The internal-combustion loco built by Universal Engineering of Bournemouth

The turntable was built on the base of a World War II searchlight

Click on either image to view it full-size.

Postcards

This old postcard shows the Weymouth Miniature Railway in the bottom right corner.

Click on the image to view it full-size.

The bottom-right corner cropped and enlarged:

The locomotive is ROBIN HOOD (2647).

Notes and credits

There is a lot of relevant information and several photographs of the line in the book The Miniature Locomotives of David Curwen, Little & Holroyde, published by the Narrow Gauge Railway Society, ISBN 978-0-9554326-1-3

Available from Camden Miniature Steam Services (www.camdenmin.co.uk)

RECOMMENDED

I would like to thank Malcolm Hardy-Randall who has researched some information from the Weymouth public library on my behalf.
CAUTION: Some of the history unearthed so far seems to be somewhat contradictory. I make no claim that the information I have quoted is 100% accurate, however, much of the information has been confirmed from different sources. Remember, just because it is published on the Internet or in a book does not necessarily mean it is correct.
Another line was built (date??) around the Lodmoor Country Park and named "Rio Grande Railway". It is also 10¼", but does not use any of the equipment from the Weymouth Miniature Railway; it is operated by a steam-outline, diesel-hydraulic Denver & Rio Grande 2-8-0 built by Severn Lamb. There are three photos of the line on weymouth-pictures.co.uk: Photo 1, Photo 2, Photo3
The editor of Miniature Railway Magazine is building a 7¼" gauge line at his home near Weymouth and managed to acquire one of the original lattice-post signals from the Weymouth Miniature Railway.

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