Ness Islands Railway

Last updated

Uncle Frank waiting with a service train. NIR-Frank.JPG
Uncle Frank waiting with a service train.

The Ness Islands Railway is a 7+14 in (184 mm) gauge miniature railway in Inverness, Scotland, opened in 1983.

Contents

Overview

Operating around a site in Whin Park, near the Ness Islands, an area popular for recreation amongst tourists and the local population, the Ness Islands Railway markets itself as the most northerly public miniature railway in the United Kingdom. [1] The Sanday Light Railway on the Island of Orkney is further north, but is no longer open to the public.

Railway Bridge Railway Bridge in Whin Park - geograph.org.uk - 2476236.jpg
Railway Bridge
Pink elephant beside the railway Pink Elephant - geograph.org.uk - 1092344.jpg
Pink elephant beside the railway

In the 1990s the Ness Islands Railway operated a fleet of replica diesel locomotives, representing in miniature assorted current locomotive designs of British Rail. The locomotive fleet has since been rationalised, with two diesel engines and one steam engine currently in operation:

The railway features repeat loops, cuttings, and over-bridges, including a 140-foot iron bridge dating from 1837. [2] It usually operates from Easter to October, running at weekends, with a daily service during school holidays.

Since April 2019 Ness Islands Railway has been owned and operated by Highland Hospice.  All surplus funds support the delivery of hospice services across the Highlands. In 2020 the bridge on the railway was vandalized and had to be fixed. Most of the money was provided by the public.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baldwin Locomotive Works</span> American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1956

The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in the early 20th century. The company was for decades the world's largest producer of steam locomotives, but struggled to compete as demand switched to diesel locomotives. Baldwin produced the last of its 70,000-plus locomotives in 1951, before merging with the Lima-Hamilton Corporation on September 11, 1951, to form the Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanfield Railway</span> Preserved railway in County Durham, England

The Tanfield Railway is a 4 ft 8+12 instandard gauge heritage railway in Gateshead and County Durham, England. Running on part of a former horse-drawn colliery wooden waggonway, later rope & horse, lastly rope & loco railway. It operates preserved industrial steam locomotives. The railway operates a passenger service every Sunday, plus other days, as well as occasional demonstration coal, goods and mixed trains. The line runs 3 miles (4.8 km) between a southern terminus at East Tanfield, Durham, to a northern terminus at Sunniside, Gateshead. Another station, Andrews House, is situated near the Marley Hill engine shed. A halt also serves the historic site of the Causey Arch. The railway claims it is "the world's oldest railway" because it runs on a section dating from 1725, other parts being in use since 1621.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chasewater Railway</span>

The Chasewater Railway is a former colliery railway running round the shores of Chasewater in Staffordshire, England. It is now operated as a heritage railway.

Brush Traction is a manufacturer and maintainer of railway locomotives in Loughborough, England. It is a subsidiary of Wabtec.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hunslet Engine Company</span> Rolling stock manufacturer

The Hunslet Engine Company is a locomotive-building company, founded in 1864 in Hunslet, England. It manufactured steam locomotives for over 100 years and currently manufactures diesel shunting locomotives. The company is part of Ed Murray & Sons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midland Railway – Butterley</span> British heritage railway centre

The Midland Railway – Butterley is a heritage railway at Butterley, near Ripley in Derbyshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elsecar Heritage Railway</span> Railway line in South Yorkshire, England

The Elsecar Heritage Railway (EHR) is located on the southern part of the former South Yorkshire Railway freight-only branch which ran from Elsecar Junction on its Mexborough to Barnsley Line.

The Strathspey Railway (SR) in Badenoch and Strathspey, Highland, Scotland, operates a ten-mile (16 km) heritage railway from Aviemore to Broomhill, Highland via Boat of Garten, part of the former Inverness and Perth Junction Railway which linked Aviemore with Forres. It is one of only a handful of former primary/secondary main lines to be preserved in Britain today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isle of Mull Railway</span> Former railway line in Scotland

The Isle of Mull Railway was a 10+14 in gauge line, 1+14 miles (2.0 km) long, which ran from the ferry terminal at Craignure to Torosay Castle, on the Isle of Mull in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. Originally it was known as the Mull and West Highland Railway. The line was marketed as Scotland's original island passenger railway. The line opened in 1983 and closed in October 2010. A limited service operated over the 2011 Easter holiday and during summer 2011. The company's lease expired in October 2011. The track was lifted in October 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North British Locomotive Company</span>

The North British Locomotive Company was created in 1903 through the merger of three Glasgow locomotive manufacturing companies; Sharp, Stewart and Company, Neilson, Reid and Company and Dübs and Company, creating the largest locomotive manufacturing company in Europe and the British Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telford Steam Railway</span>

The Telford Steam Railway (TSR) is a heritage railway located at Horsehay, Telford in Shropshire, England, formed in 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Barclay Sons & Co.</span> UK locomotive manufacturer

Andrew Barclay Sons & Co., currently operating as Brodie Engineering, is a builder of steam and later fireless and diesel locomotives. The company's history dates to foundation of an engineering workshop in 1840 in Kilmarnock, Scotland.

William Jones (1884–1968), a seasoned veteran of the steam era who established the Wildcat Railroad in Los Gatos, California, was born the son of a teamster in the town of Ben Lomond, California, USA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wells and Walsingham Light Railway</span> Heritage railway in North Norfolk, England

The Wells and Walsingham Light Railway is a 10+14 in gauge heritage railway in Norfolk, England running between the coastal town of Wells-next-the-Sea and the inland village of Walsingham. The railway occupies a four-mile (6.4 km) section of the trackbed of the former Wymondham to Wells branch which was closed to passengers in stages from 1964 to 1969 as part of the Beeching cuts. Other parts of this line, further south, have also been preserved by the Mid-Norfolk Railway.

NZR A<sup>B</sup> class

The NZR AB class was a class of 4-6-2 Pacific tender steam locomotive that operated on New Zealand's national railway system for New Zealand Railways (NZR). Originally an improvement on the 1906 A class, 141 were built between 1915 and 1927 by NZR's Addington Workshops, A & G Price of Thames, New Zealand, and North British Locomotive Company, making the AB class the largest class of steam locomotives ever to run in New Zealand. An additional eleven were rebuilt from the tank version of the AB – the WAB class – between 1947 and 1957. Two North British-made locomotives were lost in the wreck of the SS Wiltshire in May 1922.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Otago Central Railway</span> Branch railway line in Otago, New Zealand

The Otago Central Railway (OCR) or in later years Otago Central Branch Railway, now often referred to as the Taieri Gorge Railway, was a secondary railway line in Central Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lakeside Miniature Railway</span>

The 15 in gauge, single track Lakeside Miniature Railway runs along the seaward side of the Marine Lake in Southport, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scottish Railway Preservation Society</span>

The Scottish Railway Preservation Society is a charity, whose principal objective is the preservation and advancement of railway heritage in Scotland. The society was formed in 1961, and it has been actively collecting and displaying railway artifacts of Scottish significance ever since. The society's headquarters is at Bo'ness, in central Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swanley New Barn Railway</span>

The Swanley New Barn Railway is a 7+14 in gauge railway located in Swanley Park, Swanley, Kent, United Kingdom. It is signalled throughout with the signals being controlled from New Barn Station which also serves as a terminus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mizens Railway</span>

Mizens Railway is a 7¼ inch gauge miniature railway located in a 10-acre site near Woking in Surrey, England. The railway comprises three routes, the longest being nearly 1 mile long. A variety of locomotives are in use, including several steam engines.

References

  1. The claim is made on the homepage of the railway's official website.
  2. See the reference at Miniature Railway World website.

Coordinates: 57°27′39″N4°14′14″W / 57.460887°N 4.237135°W / 57.460887; -4.237135