Longest Lines in UK

A question often asked but never conclusively answered! Will this thread be any different? I am aware the longest Miniature Railway (7 1/2") is in Amercia, Train Mountain Railroad. But I am interested in UK railways. With plenty of candidates has anyone got any suggestions for the longest 7 1/4" line in the UK? Also in 5" and 12 1/4"....

 

Hi

I think us at Fairbourne are the longest 12.25" gauge railway in the UK to my knowledge with both the Exmoor Steam Railway and the Exbury Gardens Railway both being shorter in length.

I should think the Moors Valley is hgh in the list of longest 7.25" gauge railways.

Alex

 

Dont quote me on this but i think echills wood is the longest 7 1/4 or it will be quite soon and possibly the comrie railroad at the easter house of ross is a contender moors valley is possibly but its commertial

 

Echills Wood isn't the longest by any means (yet), being outclassed by Moors Valley, Great Cockrow and Eastleigh at the very least at the moment.

However our current extension will take us to around 1 3/4 miles per circuit (with a planned non-stop train covering both short and long circuits - mostly the same track I have to admit - that will give a non stop run of around 2 1/2 miles) which probably will put us in amongst the longest railways in the country, and almost certainly the longest single non stop run on a regular basis.

I think, once the extension is complete, the only railway that will be able to beat us in terms of length of run not passing over the same bit of track twice will be the once-a-day full circuit run on the Great Cockrow, but i think we will pip it in terms of the furthest distance from the starting point to the extremity (Cockrow is very bunched up on itself)

On top of all that, Kingsbury Water Park are quietly asking about *further* extensions. Could we be the first railway to find out what the limit of endurance for the average public posterior on a 7 1/4" gauge railway is......?

John

 

could it become the first society run line on a commercial basis? i believe if my line extends we will be a bout a mile and a half and with some quite fearsome gradients rivaling comrie (www.bpmrs.org.uk we curently have 0.6 of a mile with a nice long bank )

 

well, that all depends on what you mean by "commercial". If you are saying we run on a regular basis, then yes, we are commercial - we run every Sunday, rain, snow, shine (but not when we have a 5' flood, though I admit I tried...) and more often in school holidays. Are we in it for the money? Well, yes, insofar as our railway is entirely funded by ticket sales and not by membership fees, but nobody makes a living, we are all volunteers.

Are there no other society run railways that run as frequently as we do?

John

 

In answer to your quiestion John yes there is, I am a the secretary of the Chingford and District Model engineering society, and we run every Sunday from April to September each year. Our railway is also mainly funded by ticket sales as I believe most railways are (except for a few that I know)
We offer both a gound level 5 inch & 7.25 inch railway, aswell as a 3.5 inch & 5 inch raised level track aswell.

I'm not sure on our lengths of the railways, but as I said we are open every sunday from 2pm-5:30pm.
jamie

 

Ah, Chingford. Never been, but heard a lot about it from when I was part of the Bedford club and the Manning family decended en-masse every visiting engines weekend.

If Merlin Ambrosius ever finds itself in Warwickshire that is one loco I'd LOVE to see running round the EWR. And I'm in a position to give an invite as well. Its nice being me....

John

 

Oh the comercial argument. I am told my club (North London) is definatly not going to be comercial - we are a members club and are not obliged to run fot the public as we do not charge for tickets! But the railways would not be maintained but for the admission of public and their donations and the money they spend on drinks and snacks and the childrens birthday parties we hire out to them. This results in us having some open days with no trains running as members can not be bothered to come and run, especially if it looks like rain so we have to get blood out of a stone to get people to stop gossiping (oh they still come but with out engines) and run the grotty battery electric.

Oh, our raised track is supposed to be one of the longest but I am not sure if it is the longest anymore....but we have plans.

 

Longest 7.25" line is between Comrie Railroad in Perthshire, Scotland, and Moors Valley, the latter being around 1 3/4 miles.

The longest 10.25" railway in the World (not just UK) is the 4.5 mile Wells and Walsingham Railway in Norfolk.

I believe Alex is right in saying the Fairbourne is the longest 12.25 in the UK.

And the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch is the longest 15" railway on these islands.

Interstingly enough tehres only one 5" commercial railway in the UK, and bound to be the longest. Its the Strawberry Railway in Keynsham, Somerset, and is 946 yards in length. http://www.strawberryminirail.co.uk

Hope this helps,

Dom Greenop
DMR (5/8 mile 7.25" btw )

 

Thanks Dom, I've not heard of the Comrie Railroad but I will be sure to investigate further (although it's hell of atrek from Dorset!). I'm a bit partial to the minimum gauge standards set by MVR, an impressive layout. Phil

 

The Comrie Railroad (so called because the owner's main loco is a Rio Grande K36 - big beastie) is a private railway, but has regular events throughout the year including a Comrie Fortnight, where members of the 7.25" Soc can basically holiday there and play trains for two weeks. There are also a few public open days.

There used to be a webpage but I can't find it presently.

Cheers,

Dom Greenop
DMR

 

Hate to say it Dom, but Comrie is only just over ½ mile long. Moors valley is probably the longest run if routed that way (there are several routes round), though it is close between that and Weston park, which is 1½ mile long. Great Cockrow would also be close on the longest run, and Halton Miniature Railway, Runcorn is about 1 mile.

Its a strange debate though, as the lines discussed are all circular, therefore as long as you make them.... :-k

Craig

 

How is this being measured? Technically a Moors Valley Round trip is just over 1 mile. Eastleigh is slightly longer ( but not as interesting a route)

Stuart

 

All i care about is, it's longer than ours!!! \/ :lol:

Dom

 

The Beer Heights Light Railway in Devon is also a contender, being well over a mile in length, and 7.25" gauge.

 

how much track is laid down, the train mountain (record holder worldwide) website states ...

'Train Mountain currently has 69,900 feet (13¼ miles) of 7½? gauge mainline track and 133,250 feet (25¼ miles) of total trackage, which includes yards, sidings, and connector tracks. In the 2004 Guinness World Records™ Train Mountain is recognized as the "Longest Miniature Hobby Railroad". '

http://www.trainmountain.org

I was hoping we had something to contend with that enormous layout. :-k

 

Definitely not, we dont have the vast expanses of land the Yanks do, but we still have some well-packed layouts.

I'm waiting to see what happens with the new project for the Dobwalls locos, from what I've heard far down the grapevine this new line might be a strong contender for the longest UK 7.25" track! :-$

I know next to no more than that... ...

Cheers,

Dom Greenop
DMR

 

:-k and it (might) be right on my doorstep.
I have just recalled one decent line, up in ryedale. It is used for the GL5 (Ground Level 5 inch Main Line Assoc.) rallies. One thing is for certain, our lines are much better than the yanks, they don't even have signals it seems they normally run on visual (I hope that is not prototypical!)

 

For signalling check out this GARDEN RAILWAY. It is great fun to drive round. Wouldn't mind trying to get a go on the Great Cockrow after having tried on this one.