The South Downs Light Railway is a 10+1⁄4in (260mm) gauge railway at Pulborough in West Sussex, England. The line opened in 2000 (after adjusting the gauge to 10 1/4 from 7 1/4 as there was a line there before the South Downs Light Railway arrived, and operates around the grounds of Pulborough Garden Centre.
On a regular day one of their two Exmoor Steam Locomotives will be in-charge of the service. Their two Exmoor’s are named ‘Pulborough’ and ‘Peggy’. The railway hosts a range of scale locomotive which includes an LNER Flying Scotsman ,6100 royal Scot, 6220 coronation
The railway has their own engine shed which has a workshop at the back of it. Just outside the engine shed there is a traverser to move the engine. There is also a drop-down pit so the engines can be inspected underneath. The old engine shed has now been converted to the railway's carriage shed. The railway has two stations, Stopham Road Station (where most people will start their journey) and Hardham Halt which is used during gala days and during Christmas as the North Pole.
2020 was the railway's 20th year of operating in its current location and they hoped to host a 20th Gala Weekend which wpound have most likely host visiting engines plus special attractions. The railway announced that the gala weekend woils happen in August, however it was impacted by the COVID pandemic. The railway has developed a lot since they first opened including a new expansion, new engine shed, new workshop plus a new station (Hardham Halt).
Route
The railway has two stations: Stopham Road which is the main station, with passenger facilities including the ticket office; and Hardham Halt which is an intermediate station at which trains call during Christmas Services, galas, and other special events.
Locomotives
The three principal locomotives were all constructed for the line by Exmoor Steam Railway. All three are of the 0-4-2 wheel arrangement and built to narrow gauge outline proportions. They are:
Pulborough - 0-4-2 steam locomotive, built 2004, works number 319;
Peggy - 0-4-2 steam locomotive, built 2007, works number 334;
Arun - 0-4-2 diesel hydraulic, built 2016, works number 341.
Additionally, several scale-outline steam locomotives (including scale model LNER Flying Scotsman and LMS Mogul engines) are on-site, and may be seen in operation on busy days and for gala events.
Rolling stock
The railway hosts a range of passenger rolling stock and the railway hosts a scale freight train which can be seen during most of their events. Their passenger rolling stock consists of three different types of coaches. On a regular running day, the train usually consists of two open-top carriages, an open carriage and then, depending on the weather and the date, either a covered brake coach or an open-top brake coach. There is also an SR Brake Van that is used sometimes. Their scale freight train is seen during their gala days and is worth looking at.
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.
The North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) is a heritage railway in North Yorkshire, England, that runs through the North York Moors National Park. First opened in 1836 as the Whitby and Pickering Railway, the railway was planned in 1831 by George Stephenson as a means of opening up trade routes inland from the then important seaport of Whitby. The line between Grosmont and Rillington was closed in 1965 and the section between Grosmont and Pickering was reopened in 1973 by the North York Moors Historical Railway Trust Ltd. The preserved line is now a tourist attraction and has been awarded several industry accolades.
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The Bala Lake Railway is a narrow-gauge railway along the southern shore of Bala Lake in Gwynedd, North Wales. The line, which is 4+1⁄2 miles (7.2 km) long, is built on a section of the former standard-gauge Ruabon–Barmouth GWR route that closed in 1965. Another section of the former permanent way is used by the Llangollen Railway. The Bala Lake Railway, which runs on 600 mm -gauge preserved rolling stock, is a member of the Great Little Trains of Wales.
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The London and North Eastern Railway Gresley Classes A1 and A3 locomotives represented two distinct stages in the history of the British 4-6-2 "Pacific" steam locomotives designed by Nigel Gresley. They were designed for main line passenger services and later express passenger services, initially on the Great Northern Railway (GNR), a constituent company of the London and North Eastern Railway after the amalgamation of 1923, for which they became a standard design. The change in class designation to A3 reflected the fitting to the same chassis of a higher pressure boiler with a greater superheating surface and a small reduction in cylinder diameter, leading to an increase in locomotive weight. Eventually all of the A1 locomotives were rebuilt, most to A3 specifications, but no. 4470 was completely rebuilt as Class A1/1.
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The Moors Valley Railway is a 7+1⁄4 in narrow gauge passenger railway, in the Moors Valley Country Park at Ashley Heath, Dorset, England near Ringwood in Hampshire. There are 20 steam engines and 2 diesel engines. The railway is fully signalled, with two signal boxes, one in a Great Western Railway style and one in a British Rail Southern Region style. The latter box also contains a mini lever frame and push button panel, for the control of the Lakeside area. The railway was constructed at its present location in 1985/86 and opened to the public in July 1986, after the closure in 1985 of its predecessor at Tucktonia in nearby Christchurch, which had run since 1979.
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The Great Central Railway (Nottingham) (formerly known as the Nottingham Heritage Railway) is a heritage railway located at the Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre (NTHC), on the south side of the village of Ruddington, in Nottinghamshire. The route consists of almost 10 miles (16 km) of the former Great Central Main Line from Loughborough South Junction (with the Midland Main Line) to Fifty Steps Bridge and the site of Ruddington's former GCR station, plus a branch line from Fifty Steps Bridge to Ruddington Fields station which is located on a former Ministry of Defence site next to Rushcliffe Country Park.
A steam railcar is a rail vehicle that does not require a locomotive as it contains its own steam engine. The first steam railcar was an experimental unit designed and built in 1847 by James Samuel and William Bridges Adams. In 1848, they made the Fairfield steam carriage that they sold to the Bristol and Exeter Railway, who used it for two years on a branch line.
The Enfield Town branch is a branch of the Lea Valley Lines, running from Enfield Town to the West Anglia Main Line at Hackney Downs. It is a combination of the original Enfield branch built by the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) in 1849 and a later line built by the Great Eastern Railway (GER) from Hackney Downs to Edmonton in 1872. The line is currently a double-tracked suburban railway with services running between Liverpool Street station and Enfield Town as well as services running from Liverpool Street to Cheshunt via the Southbury Loop. Part of the original branch is closed and little visible remains today.
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