Salfords Light Railway

Miniature railways of my youth

I have some distant and fond memories of visiting several miniature railways when I was a child. I will use this page to describe those that I can recall. The problem is, I am not sure if there are still any photographs of these lines that either myself or my family might have taken. If there are any, it could well take me a long time to find them, so for now, words will have to do.

Weymouth, Dorset

During my school summer holidays I used to regularly visit my great-aunt in Weymouth (Dorset, England) and have memories of going on the miniature railway alongside Radipole Lake.

In 1947 a 10¼" railway was opened at the Westham Car Park on the western side of Radipole Lake, Weymouth. The line is balloon shaped, affording a run of about 1100 yards form and back to the terminus adjoining the Abbotsbury Road.

Built by David Curwen and Baydon Miniature Railway Company, it had an LNER-type Pacific no. 2001 ROBIN HOOD (boiler pressure 100lb psi, Baker valve gear). No. 2001 had a sister that went to Hillsea - they were Curwen's first locomotives. Coaching stock consisted of 5 open, bogie coaches each able to seat six passengers.

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.

In 1960 a freelance Atlantic no. 2005 BLACK PRINCE arrived which had been designed and built by Curwen in 1952.

The line was unusual in that if ran underneath the Great Western Railway where the latter crossed Radipole Lake.

The line is now closed (date ?) and the area has been redeveloped. A new line is in place around the Lodmoor Country Park, also 10¼", but not using any of the original equipment and operated by a steam-outline, diesel-hydraulic Denver & Rio Grande loco built by Severn Lamb.

ROBIN HOOD now operates on the Oakhill Manor Miniature Railway

Information was obtained from an early Ian Allan ABC of Miniature Railways and Miniature Railways Past & Present by Anthony J. Lambert.

Crystal Palace

I have very little information on Crystal Palace. All that I know is that there was an embryonic scheme to open a railway museum or attraction there. One of the plans was to have a full-size Swiss Crocodile. None of this ever came to fruition, but a start was made on a 7¼" line.

I remember visiting once with my Father when the operator was trying to get an East African Railway class 59 Garratt to go round a curve - it tended to want to go in a straight line. Somewhere there is a photograph of me sitting in the cab of the loco.

The Garratt (Mount Kenya) was built by Neil Simkins and Milner Engineering in 1975 for a proposed railway in Winchester that was never actually built. In 1981 the loco passed to the ill-fated Crystal Palace site. At Crystal Palace for only a short time, it was bought by Roger Daltry (of the band The Who) but then was sold on to the National Railway Museum in 1985. It is still part of the National Railway Museum's collection and has undergone a major rebuild in recent years.

The locomotive had been on loan for some time to the railway at Weston Park, but in May 2003 it was displayed at the National Model Engineering and Modelling Exhibition in Harrogate whilst en route back to the National Railway Museum in York.

Mount Kenya is oil fired and air braked. Boiler pressure 120 psi. Length 19’6”. Weight 2.5 ton. There were two EAR Class 59 Garratts built at the same time. Mount Kilimanjaro is almost identical except that it is coal fired (as of May 2003 at Weston Park and privately owned).

This photograph shows Mount Kenya piloting Mount Kilimanjaro at Weston Park in 2000. Photo from Sharpo's Miniature World and used with permission.

Details of the Garratts derived from an article by John Milner in the 100th edition of the 7¼" Gauge News.

[ author: - last updated May 2003 ] [ HOME ]