Ashorne Hall Railway
Encyclopedia
The Ashorne Hall Railway was a minimum gauge railway
in Warwick
, Warwickshire
, England
. It was conceived as an added attraction to the collection of mechanical musical instruments at the Ashorne Hall museum. It was completed in the mid-1990s and was called the Nickelodeon Line.
It was 12¼in gauge and had a clever and complicated track layout giving a journey of about one mile (1.6 km) in a restricted area of 6 acres (24,281.2 m²). With two substantial stations, a tunnel and engine shed it was very well equipped. With the death of its creator Graham Whitehead in 2003, the railway closed. It was dismantled and sold in 2005 and the track lifted. The steam locomotive is now at the Rudyard Lake Steam Railway
and the petrol locomotive and carriages at the Wilderness Railway.
Rolling stock
Minimum gauge railway
Minimum gauge railways have a gauge of less than or , most commonly , , or . The notion of minimum gauge railways was originally developed by estate railways and by the French company of Decauville for industrial railways....
in Warwick
Warwick
Warwick is the county town of Warwickshire, England. The town lies upon the River Avon, south of Coventry and just west of Leamington Spa and Whitnash with which it is conjoined. As of the 2001 United Kingdom census, it had a population of 23,350...
, Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It was conceived as an added attraction to the collection of mechanical musical instruments at the Ashorne Hall museum. It was completed in the mid-1990s and was called the Nickelodeon Line.
It was 12¼in gauge and had a clever and complicated track layout giving a journey of about one mile (1.6 km) in a restricted area of 6 acres (24,281.2 m²). With two substantial stations, a tunnel and engine shed it was very well equipped. With the death of its creator Graham Whitehead in 2003, the railway closed. It was dismantled and sold in 2005 and the track lifted. The steam locomotive is now at the Rudyard Lake Steam Railway
Rudyard Lake Steam Railway
The Rudyard Lake Steam Railway is a minimum gauge railway and the third railway of any gauge to run along the side of Rudyard Lake in Staffordshire. The railway runs for on the track bed of an old standard gauge North Staffordshire Railway line. After the NSR line closed down, a small narrow gauge...
and the petrol locomotive and carriages at the Wilderness Railway.
Equipment
Locomotives- 2-4-2T AshorneAshorneAshorne is a village in Warwickshire, West Midlands, England and part of the parish of Ashorne & Newbold Pacey. Ashorne is eight miles from Stratford-upon-Avon and six miles from Warwick Castle....
, built 1994 by Exmoor Steam RailwayExmoor Steam RailwayThe Exmoor Steam Railway is a narrow gauge steam railway and locomotive manufacturer, located at Bratton Fleming in North Devon.-12¼ in gauge:The railway was built by the Stirland family and first opened as a tourist attraction in August 1990... - 2-4-2 Bella, built locally on chassis supplied by Exmoor Steam Railway using a Coventry Climax petrol engine.
Rolling stock
- 5 bogie carriages built locally by Paul Camps on frames supplied by Exmoor Steam RailwayExmoor Steam RailwayThe Exmoor Steam Railway is a narrow gauge steam railway and locomotive manufacturer, located at Bratton Fleming in North Devon.-12¼ in gauge:The railway was built by the Stirland family and first opened as a tourist attraction in August 1990...
- 2 tip wagons