<h1>UK Narrow Gauge Railways.</h1> <p style="text-align: center;">Not complete, and slowly growing.&nbsp;</p> <p>Set is intended to hold UK narrow gauge (ie 1ft11 gauge and above), not miniature railways (under 2ft)</p> <hr /> <h2>Bala Lake Railway</h2> <p>The Bala Lake railway is a narrow gauge railway on the trackbed of the former standard-gauge Ruabon to Barmouth line, alongside Lake Bala in North Wales.</p> <p>The line has a collection of the Quarry Hunslet loco's typical of North Wales slate quarries.</p> <p>The line currently stops short of the site of Bala Jct station near the town of Bala, and there are plans to build a (new) route to a (new) station closer to the town centre.</p> <table style="border-collapse: collapse;" border="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td>Length of Line</td> <td>4.5 miles</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Preserved line opened</td> <td>1972</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gauge</td> <td>1 ft 11&frac12; in</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <hr /> <h2>Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway</h2> <p>The Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway is a private railway and collection near the village of Bredgar in Kent.&nbsp; The railway is open to visitors several times a year.</p> <hr /> <h2>Brecon Mountain Railway</h2> <p>The Brecon Mountain Railway is a 1 ft 11&frac12; in gauge line built on the trackbed of the former standard gauge Brecon and Merthyr railway in South Wales.&nbsp;</p> <p>The line runs from Pant near Merthyr Tydfil into the Brecon Beacons National Park to a station at Torpantau.</p> <table style="border-collapse: collapse;" border="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td>Length of Line</td> <td>5 miles</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Preserved line opened</td> <td>1980</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gauge</td> <td>1 ft 11&frac12; in</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <hr /> <h2>Corris Railway</h2> <p>The Corris railway is another slate carrying railway, originally from the town of Machynlleth to the slate quarries around the village of Corris in mid-Wales.</p> <p>The line originally opened as a horse tramway, locomotives were later acquired.&nbsp; Two of the lines four steam engines are now preserved at the Talyllyn railway.</p> <p>The line was disused for a long period until preservation started in 2002 and a short length of the line from Corris to the loco shed at Maesporth has been re-opened.</p> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td>Length of Line</td> <td>&nbsp;~0.75 mile</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Originally opened</td> <td>1859</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Closed</td> <td>1948</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Preserved line opened</td> <td>2002</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gauge</td> <td>2ft 3in</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <hr /> <h2>Ffestiniog Railway</h2> <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://www.festipedia.org.uk/w/images/thumb/e/e4/FR_Crest.gif/250px-FR_Crest.gif" alt="" width="175" height="270" /></p> <p>The Ffestiniog Railway was opened in 1836 to carry slate from the quarries around Blaenau Ffestiniog to the sea port at Portmadoc in North Wales.&nbsp; The line was originally horse drawn and engineered so that the entire line from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Portmadoc was on a continuous down grade, allowing trains of slate wagons to run down to the harbour without motive power.</p> <p>Steam power was introduced in 1863 with the first England locomotives, and in 1869 the first of the Fairlie articulated locomotives were introduced.</p> <p>The line ceased commercial operation in the 1940s and in 1954 the line was taken over as preserved line.&nbsp; Reopening the line proceeded slowly until the full line was re-opened to Blaenau Ffestiniog in 1982.</p> <p>The Ffestiniog links with the Welsh Highland railway at Portmadoc and Ffestiniog loco's are used on the Welsh Highland at times.&nbsp; Welsh Highland loco's are serviced at Boston Lodge works on the Ffestiniog, but cannot operate beyond Boston Lodge due to the smaller loading gauge of the Ffestiniog.</p> <table style="border-collapse: collapse;" border="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td>Length of Line</td> <td>13.5 miles</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Originally Opened</td> <td>1836</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Closed</td> <td>1936</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Preserved line opened</td> <td>1955-1982</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gauge</td> <td>1 ft 11&frac12; in</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <hr /> <h2>Great Orme Tramway</h2> <p>The Great Orme tramway is a cable hauled funicular line from the town of Llandudno up the Great Orme headland.</p> <p>The lower section of the line starts near the town, and the line shares the street with vehicle traffic. The upper section is on reserved track.&nbsp; The lower section is Britain's only remaining cable operated street tramway.</p> <p>Gradients are as steep as 1 in 3.8 on the lower section and 1 in 10 on the upper section.</p> <table style="border-collapse: collapse;" border="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td>Originally opened</td> <td>1902</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gauge</td> <td>3ft 6in</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <hr /> <h2>Hunslet Locomotives</h2> <p>The Hunslet locomotive company of Leeds, built many small 0-4-0 locomotives for the North Wales Slate Quarries.&nbsp; Many of these have been preserved and are collected here in one place, as well as in the respective railway sections.</p> <p>Where it has been possible to determine the dimensions, the loco's have been grouped in the relevant "class", eg "Dinorwic Alice" / "Penrhyn Port" etc.</p> <p>For some loco's the details/dimensions have not been found yet, so these are grouped under "Misc" - they will be moved to the correct class if/when this is identified.</p> <hr /> <h2>Launceston Steam Railway</h2> <p>Launceston Steam Railway is a 1 ft 11&frac12; in gauge line operating on the trackbed of the former standard gauge North Cornwall Railway at Launceston in Cornwall.</p> <p>The line has a collection of narrow gauge stock, including several of the quarry Hunslet loco's from North Wales quarries.</p> <table border="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td>Length of Line</td> <td>2&frac12; miles</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Preserved line opened</td> <td>1983</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gauge</td> <td>1 ft 11&frac12; in</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <hr /> <h2>Leighton Buzzard Railway</h2> <p>The Leighton Buzzard Railway is a 2ft gauge line at Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire.</p> <p>The line was originally built to serve sand quarries on the edge of the town.</p> <table style="border-collapse: collapse;" border="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td>Length of Line</td> <td>3 miles</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Originally opened</td> <td>1919</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Closed</td> <td>1969</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Preserved line opened</td> <td>1969</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gauge</td> <td>2 ft</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <hr /> <h2>Llanberis Lake Railway</h2> <p>The Llanberis Lake Railway is a 1 ft 11&frac12; in line built on the track bed of the former Padarn Railway - a 4ft gauge line that connected the quarry at Llanberis with Port Diwnorwic on the coast.</p> <p>The line has several of the quarry Hunslet steam loco's that were common to the slate quarries in this area of North Wales.</p> <table style="border-collapse: collapse;" border="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td>Length of Line</td> <td>2.5 miles</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Preserved line opened</td> <td>1971</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gauge</td> <td>1 ft 11&frac12; in</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <hr /> <h2>Snowdon Mountain Railway</h2> <p>The Snowdon Mountain Railway is Britains only (public) rack and pinion railway and runs from the village of Llanberis to the summit of Mt Snowdon.</p> <p>The line uses the Abt Rack system and climbs a vertical height of 960m from the village of Llanberis to the summit of Snowdon.&nbsp; The steepest sections of the line reach 1 in 5.5.</p> <table style="border-collapse: collapse;" border="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td>Length of Line</td> <td>4&frac12; miles</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Originally opened</td> <td>1896</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gauge</td> <td>800 mm</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <hr /> <h2>Talyllyn Railway</h2> <p>The Talyllyn railway was built in the 1860s to transport slate from the quarry at Bryn Eglwys to the coast at Towyn.</p> <p>The line is built to 2ft 3in gauge and the original loccomotives - "Talyllyn" and "Dolgoch" are still used on the line.</p> <p>Technically the line never closed, but was taken over as a preserved railway in 1951</p> <p>The line also has two of the original loco's from the nearby Corris Railway.</p> <table style="border-collapse: collapse;" border="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td>Length of Line</td> <td>7.25 miles</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Originally opened</td> <td>1866</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Preserved line opened</td> <td>1951</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gauge</td> <td>2ft 3in</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <hr /> <h2>Lynton and Barnstaple Railway</h2> <p>The original&nbsp;Lynton and Barnstaple Railway opened in 1898 to link the towns of Lynton and Barnstaple in North Devon with a 1ft 11 1/2 in railway.&nbsp; The line operated until it was closed in 1935.</p> <p>The preservation line re-opened at Woody Bay station in 2004 with a short length of track and hopes to re-open 9 miles of track to link Woody Bay with a new station at Lynton.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <table border="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td>Original Length of Line</td> <td>19 miles</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Length of Line</td> <td>0.9 miles</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Originally opened</td> <td>1898</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Closed</td> <td>1935</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Preserved line opened</td> <td>2004</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gauge</td> <td>1 ft 11&frac12; in</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <hr /> <h2>Welsh Highland Railway</h2> <p>The origins of the Welsh Highland go back to the 1877 with the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway started building Dinas Junction near Caernarvon south towards Beddgelert.&nbsp; Ultimately, the line reached Beddgelert and Portmadoc under the name "Welsh Highland Railway" and had a brief life before closing in 1937.</p> <p>Re-opening took place in stages from 1997 - the first section to be re-opened being Caernarvon to Dinas Jct, which was not part of the original Welsh Highland Railway, but instead a standard gauge LNWR line.&nbsp; Portmadoc was reached in 2011.</p> <p>The Welsh Highland&nbsp;links with the Ffestiniog railway at Portmadoc and Ffestiniog loco's are used on the Welsh Highland at times.&nbsp; Welsh Highland loco's are serviced at Boston Lodge works on the Ffestiniog, but cannot operate beyond Boston Lodge due to the smaller loading gauge of the Ffestiniog.</p> <table border="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td>Length of Line</td> <td>25 miles</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Originally opened</td> <td>1877 - 1922</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Closed</td> <td>1937</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Preserved line opened</td> <td>1997 - 2011</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gauge</td> <td>1 ft 11&frac12; in</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <hr /> <h2>Welsh Highland Heritage Railway</h2> <p>The Welsh Highland Heritage Railway is a short 1 ft 11&frac12; in line at Portmadoc running for approx 1 mile.</p> <p>The railway was originally started with the aim or re-opening and preserving the Welsh Highland Railway, however in the event the Welsh Highland railway was re-opened and connected with the Ffestiniog Railway.</p> <p>The WHHR remains an independent railway.</p> <hr /> <h2>Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway</h2> <p>The original Welshpool and Llanfair railway was opened in 1903 linking the town of Welshpool with the farming areas around Llanfair Caereinion.&nbsp;</p> <p>Original loco's No1 Earl and No2 Countess were built by Beyer Peacock for the line's opening.</p> <p>The line closed in 1956 and reopened as a preserved line from 1963, reaching the outskirts of Welshpool in 1981</p> <table border="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td>Original Length of Line</td> <td>9.5 miles</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Length of Line</td> <td>8.5 miles</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Originally opened</td> <td>1903</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Closed</td> <td>1956</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Preserved line opened</td> <td>1963</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gauge</td> <td>2ft 6in</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <hr /> <h2>Vale of Rheidol Railway</h2> <p>The Vale of Rheidol railway is 1 ft 11&frac12; in gauge railway from the Aberystwyth to Devil's Bridge in mid-Wales.&nbsp; The line was originally built to carry lead ore, however early in the lines operation, tourist traffic became more important and the line became primarily a tourist railway.</p> <p>The line is unusual in that it passed into BR ownership at nationalisation and until the railways were privatised in 1989, when the line was taken over as a preservation operation.&nbsp;</p> <table border="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td>Length of Line</td> <td>11 miles</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Originally opened</td> <td>1902</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gauge</td> <td>1 ft 11&frac12; in</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <hr /> <h2>Sittingbourne and Kemsley Light Railway</h2> <p>The Sittingbourne and Kemsley light railway preserves part of the Bowaters Paper Mill railway which linked the paper mills at Sittingbourne with the nearby Ridham dock.&nbsp; The original line was used to transport material and product between the mills and the dock.</p> <table border="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td>Original Length of Line</td> <td>3.5 miles</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Length of Line</td> <td>2 miles</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Originally opened</td> <td>1908</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Closed</td> <td>1969</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Preserved line opened</td> <td>1970</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gauge</td> <td>2ft 6in<br /><br /></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <hr /> <h2>Volks Electric Railway</h2> <p>An unusual electric tramway running along Brighton beach from the Aquarium east for approx 1mile.</p> <p>Line is single track with a passing loop halfway, and electrified at 110Vdc</p> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td>Length of Line</td> <td>&nbsp;1.0 mile</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Originally opened</td> <td>1883</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gauge</td> <td>2ft 8&frac12; in</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>