UK Narrow Gauge Railways.

Not complete, and slowly growing. 

Set is intended to hold UK narrow gauge (ie 1ft11 gauge and above), not miniature railways (under 2ft)

Bala Lake Railway

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.

The line has a collection of the Quarry Hunslet loco's typical of North Wales slate quarries.

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.

Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway

The Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway is a private railway and collection near the village of Bredgar in Kent.  The railway is open to visitors several times a year.

Brecon Mountain Railway

The Brecon Mountain Railway is a 1 ft 11½ in gauge line built on the trackbed of the former standard gauge Brecon and Merthyr railway in South Wales. 

The line runs from Pant near Merthyr Tydfil into the Brecon Beacons National Park to a station at Torpantau.

Corris Railway

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.

The line originally opened as a horse tramway, locomotives were later acquired.  Two of the lines four steam engines are now preserved at the Talyllyn railway.

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.

Ffestiniog Railway

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.  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.

Steam power was introduced in 1863 with the first England locomotives, and in 1869 the first of the Fairlie articulated locomotives were introduced.

The line ceased commercial operation in the 1940s and in 1954 the line was taken over as preserved line.  Reopening the line proceeded slowly until the full line was re-opened to Blaenau Ffestiniog in 1982.

The Ffestiniog links with the Welsh Highland railway at Portmadoc and Ffestiniog loco's are used on the Welsh Highland at times.  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.

Great Orme Tramway

The Great Orme tramway is a cable hauled funicular line from the town of Llandudno up the Great Orme headland.

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.  The lower section is Britain's only remaining cable operated street tramway.

Gradients are as steep as 1 in 3.8 on the lower section and 1 in 10 on the upper section.

Hunslet Locomotives

The Hunslet locomotive company of Leeds, built many small 0-4-0 locomotives for the North Wales Slate Quarries.  Many of these have been preserved and are collected here in one place, as well as in the respective railway sections.

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.

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.

Launceston Steam Railway

Launceston Steam Railway is a 1 ft 11½ in gauge line operating on the trackbed of the former standard gauge North Cornwall Railway at Launceston in Cornwall.

The line has a collection of narrow gauge stock, including several of the quarry Hunslet loco's from North Wales quarries.

Leighton Buzzard Railway

The Leighton Buzzard Railway is a 2ft gauge line at Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire.

The line was originally built to serve sand quarries on the edge of the town.

Llanberis Lake Railway

The Llanberis Lake Railway is a 1 ft 11½ 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.

The line has several of the quarry Hunslet steam loco's that were common to the slate quarries in this area of North Wales.

Snowdon Mountain Railway

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.

The line uses the Abt Rack system and climbs a vertical height of 960m from the village of Llanberis to the summit of Snowdon.  The steepest sections of the line reach 1 in 5.5.

Talyllyn Railway

The Talyllyn railway was built in the 1860s to transport slate from the quarry at Bryn Eglwys to the coast at Towyn.

The line is built to 2ft 3in gauge and the original loccomotives - "Talyllyn" and "Dolgoch" are still used on the line.

Technically the line never closed, but was taken over as a preserved railway in 1951

The line also has two of the original loco's from the nearby Corris Railway.

Lynton and Barnstaple Railway

The original 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.  The line operated until it was closed in 1935.

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.

Welsh Highland Railway

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.  Ultimately, the line reached Beddgelert and Portmadoc under the name "Welsh Highland Railway" and had a brief life before closing in 1937.

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.  Portmadoc was reached in 2011.

The Welsh Highland links with the Ffestiniog railway at Portmadoc and Ffestiniog loco's are used on the Welsh Highland at times.  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.

Welsh Highland Heritage Railway

The Welsh Highland Heritage Railway is a short 1 ft 11½ in line at Portmadoc running for approx 1 mile.

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.

The WHHR remains an independent railway.

Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway

The original Welshpool and Llanfair railway was opened in 1903 linking the town of Welshpool with the farming areas around Llanfair Caereinion. 

Original loco's No1 Earl and No2 Countess were built by Beyer Peacock for the line's opening.

The line closed in 1956 and reopened as a preserved line from 1963, reaching the outskirts of Welshpool in 1981

Vale of Rheidol Railway

The Vale of Rheidol railway is 1 ft 11½ in gauge railway from the Aberystwyth to Devil's Bridge in mid-Wales.  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.

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. 

Sittingbourne and Kemsley Light Railway

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.  The original line was used to transport material and product between the mills and the dock.

Volks Electric Railway

An unusual electric tramway running along Brighton beach from the Aquarium east for approx 1mile.

Line is single track with a passing loop halfway, and electrified at 110Vdc