Yaxham Light Railway is a narrow gauge light railway

Light railway

Light railway refers to a railway built at lower costs and to lower standards than typical "heavy rail". This usually means the railway uses lighter weight track, and is more steeply graded and tightly curved to avoid civil engineering costs...

 situated adjacent to Yaxham railway station

Yaxham railway station

Yaxham is a railway station in the village of Yaxham in the English county of Norfolk. The station is served by heritage services operated by the Mid-Norfolk Railway and is the site of the Yaxham Light Railway....

 on the Mid-Norfolk Railway

Mid-Norfolk Railway

The Mid-Norfolk Railway or MNR is a heritage railway in the English county of Norfolk. Opening as a tourist line in 1997, it is often referred to as a "New Generation" heritage railway....

. It is located in the village of Yaxham

Yaxham

Yaxham is a village and civil parish in centre of the English county of Norfolk. The parish includes the village of Yaxham, together with the neighbouring community of Clint Green. Together, they lay some south of Dereham and west of Norwich....

 in the English

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...

 county of Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

.

History

Mr D.C. Potter opened the site's first narrow gauge line in the former goods yard in 1967. This was constructed for his Hunslet 0-4-0ST, "Cackler", and the disused tracks of this line can still be seen from passing trains on the Mid-Norfolk Railway.

In 1969 the loco was moved across the standard gauge line to the Yaxham Park Light Railway (YPLR), which ran for over ½ a mile in meadows beyond the station, eventually being replaced by today's Yaxham Light Railway.

Present day

The railway has a gauge of and the main running line is some 360 yd (329 m) long. It operates a collection of industrial railway equipment acquired over the years from quarries and other locations throughout the country. Passenger trains are usually hauled by a variety of vintage diesel locomotive

Diesel locomotive

A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...

s.

Rolling stock

Narrow gauge steam locomotives

• YLR No.1 – “Coffee Pot” – vertical boilered locomotive built at Yaxham
• YLR No. 16 – “Elin” – Hunslet “Small Quarry” Class 0-4-0 Saddle tank built 1899
• YLR No. 20 – “Kidbrooke” – W G Bagnall Ltd 0-4-0 built 1917

Narrow gauge diesel locomotives

• YLR No. 2 – “Rusty” – Lister “Rail-Truck” built 1948
• YLR No. 3 – “Pest” – Lister “Rail-Truck” built 1954
• YLR No. 4 – “Goofy” – Orenstein & Koppel with a Single Cylinder Crude Oil Engine
• YLR No. 6 – “Colonel” – Ruston & Hornsby built 1940
• YLR No. 7 – Ruston & Hornsby 16hp class, built 1934
• YLR No. 10 – “Ousel” – Motor Rail Ltd ‘20/28hp’ plate frame type, built 1937
• YLR No. 13 – Motor Rail Ltd ‘20/28hp’ plate frame type, built 1940
• YLR No. 14 – “Coldmeece” – Ruston & Hornsby class ‘20DL’, built 1943
• YLR No. 18 – “Planet” – F.C. Hibberd & Co Ltd type 39, built 1962
• YLR No. 19 – “Penlee” – Hudson Hunslet 25hp, built 1942
  

Standard gauge goods wagons

• GWR 126977 MOGO Cars Wagon, grounded body and former narrow gauge locomotive shed.

External links

• Yaxham Light Railway website

Other Places in Norfolk

• Bressingham Steam and Gardens
• Bure Valley Railway
  Bure Valley Railway
  The Bure Valley Railway is a minimum gauge heritage railway in Norfolk, within The Broads National Park.The railway runs from Wroxham to Aylsham and is Norfolk's longest railway of less than standard gauge. It uses both steam and diesel locomotives. There are intermediate halts at Brampton,...
  
  
• Mid-Norfolk Railway
  Mid-Norfolk Railway
  The Mid-Norfolk Railway or MNR is a heritage railway in the English county of Norfolk. Opening as a tourist line in 1997, it is often referred to as a "New Generation" heritage railway....
  
  
• North Norfolk Railway
  North Norfolk Railway
  The North Norfolk Railway – also known as the "Poppy Line" – is a heritage steam railway in Norfolk, England, running between the coastal town of Sheringham and Holt, It cuts through the countryside to the east of Weybourne with views of its windmill and passes through the well preserved country...
  
  
• Wells and Walsingham Light Railway
  Wells and Walsingham Light Railway
  The Wells and Walsingham Light Railway is a gauge heritage railway in Norfolk, England running between the coastal town of Wells and Walsingham which is further inland...
  
  
• Whitwell & Reepham railway station