List of British heritage and private railways

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Wikimedia | © OpenStreetMap
Interactive map of standard gauge heritage railways in Great Britain.
Wikimedia | © OpenStreetMap
Interactive map of miniature heritage railways in Great Britain.

This is a list of heritage, private and preserved railways throughout the United Kingdom, the Crown dependencies, and British Overseas Territories whether operational or closed, that are operated for charitable purposes or shareholder profit. Some also provide economic local transport. For rail museums, see List of British railway museums.

Many of the standard-gauge railways listed, including former branch lines and ex-mainline routes, were closed by British Railways under the Beeching Axe of the 1960s. Most have been restored and operate as heritage lines. A smaller number of lines were formerly industrial or colliery railways.

Many of these preserved railways are mentioned in national and international tour guides, and visits may form part of a school curriculum or feature in other studies, including civil engineering, mechanics, social, economic and political history, visual arts and drama.[citation needed]

This list also includes tramways. Nearly all tram services in Britain ended in the 1950s and early 1960s, leaving just Blackpool Corporation Tramways, although some big cities have since revived them in the late 20th century onwards.

England[]

East of England[]

Mixed train on the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway
Restored double track section on the Mid-Norfolk Railway

Standard gauge[]

  • Colne Valley Railway, Castle Hedingham, Essex
  • Epping Ongar Railway, Ongar, Essex
  • Mid-Norfolk Railway, Dereham, Norfolk
  • Mid Suffolk Light Railway, Brockford, Suffolk
  • Nene Valley Railway, Wansford, Cambridgeshire
  • North Norfolk Railway, Sheringham, Norfolk

Railway centres and museums[]

Narrow gauge[]

  • Bressingham Steam and Gardens, Diss, Norfolk
  • Great Whipsnade Railway, ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, Bedfordshire
  • Leighton Buzzard Light Railway, Bedfordshire
  • Southend Pier Railway, Southend-on-Sea, Essex
  • Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills, Essex
  • Yaxham Light Railway, Norfolk – private site

Miniature gauge[]

The Wells and Walsingham Light Railway

Tramways[]

East Midlands[]

Standard gauge[]

Railway centres and museums[]

  • Appleby Frodingham Railway, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire
  • Barrow Hill Railway Centre, Barrow Hill nr Chesterfield, Derbyshire
  • Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre, Ruddington, Nottinghamshire
  • Rushden Transport Museum, Northamptonshire

Narrow gauge[]

Miniature gauge[]

  • Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway, Lincolnshire
  • Mablethorpe Miniature Railway, Queens Park, Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire
  • Stapleford Miniature Railway, near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire

Tramways[]

A 1931 Leeds tram seen at Crich Tramway Village in 2004
  • National Tramway Museum, Crich, Derbyshire

North England[]

Goathland station on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway

Standard gauge[]

Railway centres and museums[]

  • Astley Green Colliery Museum, Lancashire
  • Beamish Museum & Railway Centre, County Durham
  • Carnforth Railway Centre, Carnforth, Lancashire
  • Crewe Heritage Centre, Crewe, Cheshire
  • Darlington Railway Centre and Museum, Darlington, County Durham
  • Haig Colliery Mining Museum, Cumbria
  • Leeds Industrial Museum, Armley, West Yorkshire
  • Locomotion, Shildon, County Durham
  • Monkwearmouth Station Museum, Sunderland
  • National Railway Museum, York, North Yorkshire
  • Stephenson Railway Museum, West Chirton, Tyne and Wear

Narrow gauge[]

The Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway in 1981

Miniature gauge[]

The North Bay Railway
Miniature Railway in Royden Park
  • All in one Miniature Railway, Knutsford nr Allostock, Cheshire
  • Blackpool Zoo Railway, Blackpool, Lancashire
  • , Poynton, Cheshire
  • Dragon Miniature Railway, Marple, nr Stockport, Greater Manchester
  • High Legh Miniature Railway, High Legh, Cheshire
  • Kirklees Light Railway, Clayton West, West Yorkshire
  • Knowsley Safari Park Railway, Knowsley, Merseyside
  • Halton Miniature Railway, Runcorn, Cheshire
  • Lakeside Miniature Railway, Pleasureland Southport, Merseyside
  • North Bay Railway, Scarborough, North Yorkshire
  • Pleasure Beach Express, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Lancashire
  • Pugneys Light Railway, Wakefield, West Yorkshire
  • Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway, Cumbria
  • Wirral Model Engineering Society, Royden Park, Wirral, Merseyside
  • Saltburn Miniature Railway, Saltburn, North Yorkshire
  • South Park Miniature Railway, Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester
  • Walton Park Miniature Railway, Sale, Greater Manchester
  • Woodhorn Narrow Gauge Railway, Ashington, Northumberland
  • Windmill Farm Railway, Bursough, Lancashire

Tramways[]

Wirral Tramway

South East[]

GWR Earl of Berkeley at Horsted Keynes Station, Bluebell Railway

Standard gauge[]

Railway centres and museums[]

The engine sheds at Didcot Railway Centre
  • Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, Quainton Road, Buckinghamshire
  • Didcot Railway Centre, Didcot, Oxfordshire
  • Finmere railway station, Buckinghamshire (private site)
  • London Transport Museum, Covent Garden, Central London
  • London Transport Museum Depot, Acton, West London
  • Southall Railway Centre, Southall, West London

Narrow gauge[]

Trains on the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway
The Volks Electric Railway

Miniature gauge[]

South West[]

Steam locomotive (number 80136) with carriages at station platform.
Bishops Lydeard station on the West Somerset Railway
A general view of the Swanage Railway

Standard gauge[]

Railway centres and museums[]

Narrow gauge[]

Restored Victorian coach at the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway
Exmouth Miniature Railway
  • Westonzoyland Pumping Station Museum, Somerset

Miniature gauge[]

The Beer Heights Light Railway

Tramways[]

West Midlands[]

Arley station on the Severn Valley Railway

Standard gauge[]

Railway centres and museums[]

Narrow gauge[]

Miniature gauge[]

  • Broomy Hill Railway, Herefordshire
  • Downs Light Railway, Colwall, Worcestershire (also the oldest private miniature railway worldwide)
  • Echills Wood Railway, Kingsbury Waterpark, Warwickshire
  • Evesham Vale Light Railway, Evesham Country Park, Worcestershire
  • Weston Park Railway, Shropshire

Tramways[]

Dudley tram No. 5 of 1920 at Black Country Museum
  • Black Country Living Museum, Dudley, West Midlands

Proposed[]

East of England[]

  • Leiston Works Railway, Leiston, Suffolk (currently under construction)[1]
  • Southwold Railway, Southwold, Suffolk[2]
  • Wisbech and March Railway, Waldersea, Cambridgeshire

North of England[]

  • Poulton and Wyre Railway, Thornton–Cleveleys, Lancashire (under restoration)

South West[]

  • Combe Rail, Mortehoe-Woolacombe, Devon
  • , Folkestone, Kent
  • North Somerset Railway, Radstock, Somerset
  • Shillingstone Railway Project, Shillingstone, Dorset (under construction)
  • Tarka Valley Railway, Torrington, Devon (display museum at former station house, public house only)
  • Vale of Berkeley Railway, Sharpness, Gloucestershire

Defunct[]

  • Ashford Steam Centre, Willesborough, Kent – closed in 1976.
  • Abbey Light Railway, Kirkstall, West Yorkshire – closed in 2012.
  • Brockham Railway Museum, Dorking, Surrey – closed 1982 (Stock moved to Amberley Museum Railway, West Sussex)
  • Bolebroke Castle Miniature Railway, East Sussex – closed 2012
  • Buxton Steam Centre, Derbyshire – closed in 1987, as Peak Rail moved to Darley Dale.
  • Cadeby Light Railway, Cadeby, Leicestershire – closed in 2005.
  • Creekmoor Light Railway, Poole, Dorset – closed in 1973
  • Dinting Railway Centre, Derbyshire – closed in 1991, (Society moved to Ingrow (West) station on the KWVR, West Yorkshire.)
  • , Ashchurch, Gloucestershire – closed in the 1980s
  • Eastbourne Tramway, East Sussex – closed 1969, (moved to Seaton, Devon)
  • Electric Railway Museum, Warwickshire - closed in October 2017, (rolling stock relocated to other preserved railways across the UK).
  • Great Yorkshire Railway Preservation Society, Starbeck, North Yorkshire – closed in 1989 (Group moved to Murton, near York, to restore part of the former Derwent Valley Light Railway)
  • Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway, Humberston, Lincolnshire – closed 1985 - Rebuilt 2009 in Skegness.
  • Markeaton Park Light Railway, Rowsley, Derbyshire - closed in 2016, track lifted in 2017.
  • , South London – closed in 1973 Some exhibits moved first to Syon Park, West London and subsequently to Covent Garden to form London Transport Museum. Some exhibits moved to N.R.M. York
  • , Dartford, Kent – closed in 1995 (society merged with Spa Valley Railway)
  • North Woolwich Old Station Museum, East London – closed in 2008
  • , Carshalton, South London - Closed in 1997
  • Ramsgate Tunnel Railway, Ramsgate, Kent – closed in 1965
  • Snibston Railway, Coalville, Leicestershire – closed on 31 July 2015 (as with the Discovery Museum, itself)
  • Southport Pier Tramway, Southport, Merseyside - closed 2015
  • , Southport, Lancashire – closed in 1999, (Society moved to Preston Docks as the Ribble Steam Railway).
  • Stevington & Turvey Light Railway, Turvey, Bedfordshire – private site - closed in 2014.
  • Transperience, Low Moor, Bradford, Yorkshire – closed in 1997
  • , Westerham, Kent – closed 1965 (merged with Kent and East Sussex Railway Preservation Society with a few items of stock transferred to KWVR.)

Northern Ireland[]

See List of heritage railways in Northern Ireland

Broad gauge[]

  • Downpatrick and County Down Railway, County Down

Railway centres and museums[]

  • Railway Preservation Society of Ireland, Whitehead, County Antrim
  • Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Cultra

Narrow gauge[]

Defunct[]

  • , County Antrim – closed 1994 (stock moved to Giants Causeway and Bushmills Railway.)

Scotland[]

Standard gauge[]

Central Highlands[]

East Coast of Scotland[]

Scottish Borders[]

West Coast of Scotland[]

Railway centres and museums[]

  • [4]
  • Glasgow Museum of Transport
  • , Lathalmond, Fife [5]

Narrow gauge[]

Craignure station on the 10+1⁄4 in (260 mm) gauge Isle of Mull railway

Miniature railways[]

Tramways[]

  • Summerlee Heritage Park,[6] Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire

Proposed[]

Defunct[]

Wales[]

North Wales[]

Standard gauge[]

Railway centres and museums[]

Narrow gauge[]

The Llanberis Lake Railway
The Snowdon Mountain Railway
The Welsh Highland Railway

Miniature railways[]

Tramways[]

Mid Wales[]

Narrow gauge[]

Miniature railways[]

South Wales[]

Standard gauge[]

Narrow gauge[]

  • Brecon Mountain Railway, Pant, near Merthyr Tydfil
  • , Margam
  • Teifi Valley Railway, Henllan near Newcastle Emlyn, Ceredigion

Miniature railways[]

Tramways[]

  • Heath Park Electric Tramway, at Cardiff Model Engineering Society

Proposed[]

North Wales[]

Standard gauge[]
  • , Conwy (under construction)
  • Bala & Ffestiniog Railway Heritage Trust, Maentwrog Road, Gwynedd (currently under restoration)
Narrow gauge[]
  • Glyn Valley Tramway, Chirk, Denbighshire

South Wales[]

Standard gauge[]

Defunct[]

  • , Cardiff Bay – closed in 1997, moved to Barry Tourist Railway
  • , Caerphilly Railway Works – closed 1996, moved to Gwili Railway
  • Gloddfa Ganol, Blaenau Ffestiniog - museum of narrow-gauge railways, closed in 1998, stock sold at auction
  • Swansea Vale Railway, Pentrechwyth – closed in 2009, (most of the track and rolling stock are now located on the Gwili Railway).
  • Trawsfynydd and Blaenau Ffestiniog Railway, Closed and replaced by Bala & Ffestiniog Railway Heritage Trust

Crown dependencies[]

Isle of Man[]

See Rail transport in the Isle of Man.

Channel Islands[]

British Overseas Territories[]

Falkland Islands[]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "One Suffolk". leistonworksrailwaytrust.onesuffolk.net. Archived from the original on 13 June 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  2. ^ "Southwold Railway Trust – England's premier 3-foot gauge railway". www.southwoldrailway.co.uk. Archived from the original on 6 March 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  3. ^ "ScottishIndustrialRailwayCentre". www.scottishindustrialrailwaycentre.org.uk. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  4. ^ "The Ferryhill Railway Heritage Trust Incorporating Ferryhill Men's Shed - Welcome Page". www.frht.org.uk. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  5. ^ http://www.shed47.org/index.html
  6. ^ . 27 October 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20091027060737/http://geocities.com/summerleetrams/. Archived from the original on 27 October 2009. Retrieved 3 April 2018. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ^ Orme Tramway

External links[]

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