The Exmoor Steam Railway is a narrow gauge steam railway and locomotive manufacturer, located at Bratton Fleming in North Devon.
The Exmoor Steam Railway is a narrow gauge steam railway and locomotive manufacturer, located at Bratton Fleming in North Devon.
The railway was built by the Stirland family and first opened as a tourist attraction in August 1990. At this time the railway ran in a circuit from the main station at Exmoor Central, trains descending on a large embankment before climbing back up through a spiral tunnel. In 1996 a new station was opened at Cape of Good Hope, which changed the line to an "end-to-end" layout. At the end of the 2001 season, the decision was taken to close the railway to the public and concentrate on building new steam locomotives and associated equipment. The railway remains in full working order, and work started in the winter 2008/9 on extending the railway. By mid-2010 an additional 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) of track had been brought into use, with a very steep ascending and descending ruling gradients of 1 in 28.
During the 1990s, a number of 1 ft 11+1⁄2 in (597 mm) gauge Beyer Garratt articulated locomotives from South Africa arrived on site and were displayed. One locomotive was sold to the Welsh Highland Railway in 2006, whilst another has been under long-term restoration. Over the winter 2008/9 work started on constructing around 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) of 1 ft 11+1⁄2 in gauge railway to run the Garratts on.
| Name | Builder | Type | Number | Built | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anglo Franco Belge | 2-8-2 | 2685 | 1955 | S.A.R. NG15 | |
| Beyer Peacock | 2-6-2+2-6-2 T | 115 | 1939 | S.A.R. NGG16 | |
| Hanomag | 2-6-2+2-6-2 T | 77 | 1928 | S.A.R. NGG13, repainted in Dark Blue livery 2010 | |
| Eddy | Hunslet | 4w DH | 9336 | 1946 | Now at Exbury Gardens after re-gauging to 12+1⁄4 in (311 mm) |
| Motor Rail | 4w DM | 8856 | 1944 |
Since the railway opened, there has been a large workshop on site, which was used to build all the locomotives and equipment used on the railway. In 2001, the decision was taken to close the railway as a tourist attraction and concentrate on the manufacture of miniature and narrow gauge railway equipment.
Exmoor Steam Railway builds several new steam locomotives a year, as well as rolling stock and also advise on the setup and expansion of miniature and narrow gauge railways. Exmoor is a member of Britain's Great Little Railways and has supplied locomotives to many other members who operate public miniature and narrow gauge railways.
| Identity | Works number | Type | Gauge | Year built | Operator | Status | Notes | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tryfan | 189 | 2-4-2T | 7+1⁄4 in (184 mm) | private Wilderness Railway | Originally named Bray Valley and original loco of Exmoor Steam Railway | |||
| Yeo Valley | 190 | 2-8-0 T | 12+1⁄4 in (311 mm) | 1990 | Exbury Gardens | Withdrawn from service and dismantled | ||
| Christopher | 191 | 2-6-2 T | 12+1⁄4 in (311 mm)regauged from 10+1⁄4 in (260 mm) | 1991 | Littlehampton Miniature Railway | Originally John-Remy and a 0-6-2T. Name, wheel arrangement and gauge changed when moved from Beale Park to Littlehampton | ||
| Excalibur | 293 | 2-4-2 T | 10+1⁄4 in (260 mm) regauged from 12+1⁄4 in (311 mm) | 1993 | Leek and Rudyard Railway | Formerly River Churnet |  | |
| Exmoor | 294 | 2-4-2T | 12+1⁄4 in (311 mm) | 1993 | Exmoor Steam Railway | |||
| Spirit of Adventure | 295 | 0-6-0 T | 15 in (381 mm) | 1993 | Perrygrove Railway |  | ||
| 7 Merlin | 296 | 2-4-2 T | 10+1⁄4 in (260 mm) | 1998 | Leek and Rudyard Railway |  | ||
| Pendragon | 297 | 2-4-2 T | 10+1⁄4 in (260 mm) regauged from 12+1⁄4 in (311 mm) | 1994 | Astbury Light Railway | Originally Ashorne | ||
| Bella | 298 | 2-4-2 | 1996 | Barn Well Hill Railway | ||||
| Exmoor Ranger | 0-4-4-0 | 12+1⁄4 in (311 mm) | Unknown | Unknown | mostly build never left the works used as parts for other exmoor builds | |||
| Denzil | 299 | 0-4-2 T+T | 12+1⁄4 in (311 mm) | 1995 | Exmoor Steam Railway | |||
| Monty | 300 | 0-4-2 T | 15 in (381 mm) | 1996 | Evesham Vale Light Railway | Originally named Markeaton Lady at Markeaton Park Light Railway |  | |
| Sandy | 301 | 0-6-0 T | 15 in (381 mm) | 1996 | Wotton Light Railway | |||
| Ruby | 302 | 0-4-2 T | 15 in (381 mm) | 1997 (for Brocklands Adventure Park) | Lappa Valley Steam Railway | Originally named Dennis | ||
| 303 | 2-6-0 | 15 in (381 mm) | ||||||
| Gillian | 304 | 0-4-2 T | 7+1⁄4 in (184 mm) | |||||
| Cricor | 305 | 0-4-2 T | 7+1⁄4 in (184 mm) | 1999 | Unknown | |||
| Hunton | 306 | 0-4-2T | 7+1⁄4 in (184 mm) | 2000 | Unknown | |||
| Jane | 307 | 0-4-2 T | 7+1⁄4 in (184 mm) | 2000 | Pugneys light Railway | |||
| Jools | 308 | 0-4-2 T | 7+1⁄4 in (184 mm) | 1999 | Beer Heights Light Railway | Major rebuild by B.H.L.R completed in 2018 | Originally named Samstipur | |
| Jean | 309 | 0-4-2 T | 7+1⁄4 in (184 mm) | 2000 | Barnards Miniature Railway | |||
| Billy May | 310 | 2-4-2 T | 7+1⁄4 in (184 mm) | 2000 | Woodseaves Miniature Railway | Privately owned |  | |
| St. Christopher | 311 | 2-6-2 T | 15 in (381 mm) | 2001 | Bressingham Steam Museum & Gardens |  | ||
| St Egwin | 312 | 0-4-0 T+T | 15 in (381 mm) | 2003 | Evesham Vale Light Railway |  | ||
| Amy Louise | 314 | 0-4-2 | 7+1⁄4 in (184 mm) | 2003 | Barnards Miniature Railway | |||
| Rosemary | 315 | 0-6-2 T | 12+1⁄4 in (311 mm) | 2001 | Exbury Gardens |  | ||
| Eddy | n/a | 0-4-0 | 12+1⁄4 in (311 mm) | 2001 | Exbury Gardens | First non steam loco made by the railway made on frames of a hunslet 24in | ||
| Naomi | 316 | 0-6-2 T | 12+1⁄4 in (311 mm) | 2002 | Exbury Gardens |  | ||
| The Duchess of Difflin | 317 | 0-4-2 T | 15 in (381 mm) | 2003 | Oakfeild Park Railway |  | ||
| Pulborough | 319 | 0-4-2 T | 10+1⁄4 in (260 mm) | 2004 | South Downs Light Railway | |||
| Dame Ann | 320 | 0-4-2 ST | 2 ft (610 mm) | 2004 | Wales West Light Railway |  | ||
| Doris Hilburn | 321 | 0-4-2 T | 7+1⁄4 in (184 mm) | 2004 | Barnards Miniature Railway | Originally named Audrey | ||
| Brasken | 322 | 0-4-2 T | 12+1⁄4 in (311 mm) | 2006 | Unknown | |||
| ANNE | 323 | 0-6-2 T | 15 in (381 mm) | 2004 | Perrygrove Railway | Originally named John Hayton |  | |
| King Arthur | 324 | 0-6-2 T | 10+1⁄4 in (260 mm) | 2005 | Leek and Rudyard Railway |  | ||
| Black Beauty | 325 | 2-6-2 | 12+1⁄4 in (311 mm) | 2009 | Ree Park Safari | |||
| Mariloo | 326 | 2-6-0 | 12+1⁄4 in (311 mm) | 2008 | Exbury Gardens |  | ||
| Jillie | 327 | 0-4-2 T | 7+1⁄4 in (184 mm) | 2007 | Wills Garden Railway | |||
| 328 | 0-4-2 T | 7+1⁄4 in (184 mm) | 2008 | |||||
| Lorna Doone | 330 | 0-4-2 T | 12+1⁄4 in (311 mm) | Exmoor Steam Railway | ||||
| Ellie | 331 | 0-4-2 T | 15 in (381 mm) | 2006 | Lappa Valley Steam Railway |  | ||
| Victoria | 332 | 2-4-2 | 12+1⁄4 in (311 mm) | 2007 | Statfold Barn Railway | Operational [1] | Didn't run for 16 years after construction | |
| Phalaenopsis | 333 | 2-4-2 T | 10+1⁄4 in (260 mm) | 2008 | Unknown | |||
| Peggy | 334 | 0-4-2 T | 10+1⁄4 in (260 mm) | 2007 | South Downs Light Railway | |||
| George | 335 | 0-4-2 T | 10+1⁄4 in (260 mm) | 2010 | Poole Park Railway |  | ||
| Barnarda Von Barnards | 337 | 0-4-2 T | 7+1⁄4 in (184 mm) | 2010 | Barnards Miniature Railway | Originally named Jeremy | ||
| 340 | 4-4-0 | 7+1⁄4 in (184 mm) | 2018 | |||||
| Arun | 341 | 0-4-2 DH | 10+1⁄4 in (260 mm) | 2015 | South Downs Light Railway | Diesel locomotive | ||
| Jack | 342 | 2-6-0 | 10+1⁄4 in (260 mm) | 2016 | Delamont Miniature Railway | |||
| Sapphire | 343 | 2-4-2 | 7+1⁄4 in (184 mm) | 2021 | Pugneys' Miniature Railway | Last loco to data made by exmoor | ||
| 344 | 2-6-2T | 12+1⁄4 in (311 mm) | 2023? | Statfold Barn Railway | under construction | |||
| Victoria | 0-4-2 T | Foxfield Railway |
A narrow-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge narrower than 1,435 mmstandard gauge. Most narrow-gauge railways are between 600 mm and 1,067 mm.
The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway is a 15 in minimum gauge heritage railway in Cumbria, England. The 7-mile (11.3 km) line runs from Ravenglass to Dalegarth Station near Boot in the valley of Eskdale, in the Lake District. At Ravenglass the line ends at Ravenglass railway station on the Cumbrian Coast Line.
A Garratt locomotive is a type of steam locomotive invented by British engineer Herbert William Garratt that is articulated into three parts. Its boiler, firebox, and cab are mounted on a centre frame or "bridge". The two other parts, one at each end, have a pivot to support the central frame; they consist of a steam engine unit – with driving wheels, trailing wheels, valve gear, and cylinders, and above it, fuel and/or water storage.
Bressingham Steam & Gardens is a steam museum and gardens located at Bressingham, west of Diss in Norfolk, England. The site has several narrow gauge rail lines and a number of types of steam engines and vehicles in its collection and is also the home of a Dad's Army exhibition.
The Llanberis Lake Railway is a 1 ft 11+1⁄2 in narrow gauge heritage railway that runs for 2.5 miles (4 km) along the northern shore of Llyn Padarn in north Wales in the Snowdonia National Park. The starting point is the village of Llanberis at the eastern end of the lake, with the western terminus at Pen Llyn in the Padarn Country Park. The return journey takes around 60 minutes.
The Brecon Mountain Railway is a 1 ft 11+3⁄4 in narrow gauge tourist railway on the south side of the Brecon Beacons. It climbs northwards from Pant along the full length of the Pontsticill Reservoir and continues past the adjoining Pentwyn Reservoir to Torpantau railway station. The railway's starting point at Pant is located two miles (3 km) north of the town centre of Merthyr Tydfil, Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, South-East Wales.
The Lynton and Barnstaple Railway (L&B) opened as an independent railway in May 1898. It was a single track, 1 ft 11+1⁄2 in narrow gauge railway and was slightly over 19 miles (31 km) long running through the rugged and picturesque area bordering Exmoor in North Devon, England. Although opened after the Light Railways Act 1896 came into force, it was authorised and constructed prior to that act. Therefore, as with all other railways, it was authorised under its own Act of Parliament and built to higher standards than similar railways of the time. In the United Kingdom it was notable as being the only narrow gauge line required to use main-line standard signalling. For a short period the line earned a modest return for shareholders, but for most of its life the L&B made a loss. In 1923, the L&B was taken over by the Southern Railway, and eventually closed in September 1935.
Ten and a quarter inch gauge is a large modelling scale, generally only used for ridable miniature railways. Model railways at this scale normally confine the scale modelling aspects to the reproduction of the locomotive and with steam locomotives the accompanying tender. Rolling stock is generally made to carry passengers or maintenance equipment and is not to scale. There are also a number of railways which use this gauge of track but are narrow-gauge railways. Examples are Rudyard Lake Steam Railway, Isle of Mull Railway and Wells and Walsingham Light Railway. An organisation to promote this gauge of railway has been reformed in May 2010 as The Ten and a Quarter Railway Society, which will also cover the larger 12+1⁄4 in and smaller 9+1⁄2 in gauges.
There were more than a thousand British narrow-gauge railways ranging from large, historically significant common carriers to small, short-lived industrial railways. Many notable events in British railway history happened on narrow-gauge railways including the first use of steam locomotives, the first public railway and the first preserved railway.
The Australian Standard Garratt (ASG) was a Garratt locomotive designed in Australia during World War II, and used on 3 ft 6 in narrow gauge railway systems in Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania.
The Knebworth and Winter Green Railway was a 1 ft 11+1⁄2 in narrow gauge railway built in the grounds of Knebworth House in 1972 as a tourist attraction.
The National Railway Museum, Port Adelaide, South Australia is the largest railway museum in Australia. More than 100 major exhibits, mainly from the South Australian Railways (SAR) and Commonwealth Railways and their successor, Australian National, are displayed at its 3.5 hectares site. A very large archival collection of photographs of those railways and records created by them is also managed by the museum. The museum is operated with a large number of volunteers.
Standard gauge was favored for railway construction in the United States, although a fairly large narrow-gauge system developed in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Utah. Isolated narrow-gauge lines were built in many areas to minimize construction costs for industrial transport or resort access, and some of these lines offered common carrier service. Outside Colorado, these isolated lines evolved into regional narrow-gauge systems in Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, Hawaii, and Alaska.
The Statfold Barn Railway is a narrow gauge railway based near Tamworth, Staffordshire and partially in Warwickshire, England. Founded by engineering entrepreneur Graham Lee and his wife Carol at their farm-based home, they originally designed what is still termed the garden railway, in which Graham could run his trains and Carol could design an extensive English country garden around a lake.
The South African Railways Class NG G13 2-6-2+2-6-2 of 1927 are a class of narrow gauge articulated steam locomotives.
The Leighton Buzzard Light Railway (LBLR) is a light railway in Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire, England. It operates on 2 ft narrow-gauge track and is just under 3 miles (4.8 km) long. The line was built after the First World War to serve sand quarries north of the town. In the late 1960s the quarries switched to road transport and the railway was taken over by volunteers, who now run the line as a heritage railway.
Everard Richard Calthrop was a British railway engineer and inventor. Calthrop was a notable promoter and builder of narrow-gauge railways, especially of 2 ft 6 in narrow gauge, and was especially prominent in India. His most notable achievement was the Barsi Light Railway, but he is best known in his home country for the Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway. Calthrop has been described as a "railway genius". Later in life he took an interest in aviation, patenting some early designs for parachutes.
The Saltburn Miniature Railway is a 15 in gauge railway at Saltburn, in Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England.
The South African Railways Class NG G11 2-6-0+0-6-2 of 1919 is a class of narrow gauge steam locomotives.
Europe inherited a diversity of rail gauges. Extensive narrow-gauge railway networks exist in Spain, Central Europe and Southeastern Europe.
Don.Fifer The Heywood Society Journal No.56 Spring 2005
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