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Wednesday, 1 July 2026

NGRUK Home Page

Snap of Prince and Blanche at Tan-y-Bwlch in the mid 1960s
I have been fascinated by narrow gauge railways for at least the past 50 years - since a family holiday in North Wales when I was a youngster and quite by chance we camped beside the Festiniog Railway. Over the years I have visited several preserved narrow gauge railways and tramped the trackbeds of many abandoned lines. Having just retired from full time work I decided it was time I catalogued more fully my interests and my various wanderings. This blog aims to encapsulate an accumulation of information, images and video clips.

Over the coming years I intend to visit (and re-visit) the sites of narrow gauge railways in the UK accessible to the public and record the outcome of my visits and researches. The outcome will no doubt be idiosyncratic and completely partial - I am, after all, only human!

The accepted definition of 'narrow gauge' includes railways with a gauge of less than 4' 8½". This should therefore include miniature railways. However, as there are nearly 500 railways in the UK which fit this description I have decided initially to concentrate on passenger carrying and commercial railways with a gauge between 12" and 4' 8½".

Below you will find a list of the railways which fit my parameters outlined above. I think I have listed the passenger carrying and commercial lines which have existed or do exist in the UK (with a gauge greater than 12") - however, I have found it is quite difficult to find a definitive list - railways seem to come and go at will. In addition, I have plotted all the railways on a Google Map, to help me plan my visits.

View Narrow Gauge Railways in a larger map


You will notice that this list has around fifty 'live' entries so far out of just over 200 possible railways. I am intending to start from scratch - visiting and revisiting each railway but, this time, being more systematic in the information, images and videos I collect.

 Narrow Gauge Railways in England
Narrow Gauge Railways Railways in Wales

Narrow Gauge Railways in Scotland
  • Alford Valley Railway (2')
  • Almond Valley Heritage Centre (2' 6")
  • Campbeltown and Machrihanish (2’3”)
  • Clyde Valley Railway (2')
  • Craigtoun Park Railway (15")
  • East Links Railway (2')
  • Glasgow Underground Railway (4')
  • Leadhills & Wanlockhead Railway (2')
Narrow Gauge Railways in Ireland
  • Arigna Mines Experience (2')
  • Ballymena, Cushendall & Red Bay (3’)
  • Ballymena & Larne (3’)
  • Ballycastle  (3’)
  • Castlerigg & Victoria Bridge Tramway (3’)
  • Cavan & Leitrim Railway (3')
  • Clogher Valley tramway (3’)
  • Cork, Blackrock & Passage (3’ (originally 5’3”))
  • Cork & Muskerry Light Railway (3’)
  • County Donegal Railway (3’3”)
  • Difflin Lake Railway (15")
  • County Donegal  (3’) 
  • Fintown & Glenties Railway (3')
  • Giants Causeway & Bushmills Railway (3')
  • Irish Steam Preservation Society (3')
  • Lartigue Monorail and Museum (0')
  • Leisureland Funworld Express (2')
  • Londonderry & Lough Swilly (3’)
  • Peatlands Park (3')
  • Schull & Skibbereen (3’) 
  • Stradbally Railway  (Railway Preservation Society of Ireland) (3')
  • Sunshine Peat Co. (2' 6")
  • Tralee & Blennerville Railway (3')
  • Tralee & Dingle (3’)
  • Tramore Miniature Railway (15")
  • Waterford & Suir Valley Railway (3')
  • West Clare Railway (3')
  • West Clare  (3’)
  • Westport House (15")
Narrow Gauge Railways elsewhere
Isle of Man
Channel Islands
    • Jersey Railway (3’6”)
    • Pallot Steam Museum (2' ??)

      Background research
      To inform my visits I have been conducting more generalised background research on the history and development of narrow gauge railways in the UK and Ireland. From time to time I will share the outcome of my researches here:

      Progress Reports
      Over time I will keep posting general progress reports in addition to the postings on railways I have visited. These will be presented here in chronological order.

      You may also be interested in my other two blogs which are slightly interrelated:
      • Swiss Railway Tour - A ten day trip I organised in 2007 to travel on what I considered to be the most well known railways in Switzerland
      • Peckforton Garden Railway - My 15mm scale garden railway depicting a fictional three foot narrow gauge railway supposedly situated in the Cheshire countryside.

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      Amberley Museum

      In a nutshell

      Gauge:          2' (610mm)

      Length:      500 yd (460m)

      Opened:     1982

       Location:   New Barn Road, 
                          Amberley, 
                          Near Arundel, 
                          West Sussex, 
                          BN18 9LT




      Tel:         01798 831370     

       

      Date of visit:     25 June 2026

       

      Key Facts

      • The railway is based at Amberley Museum, in Amberley, West Sussex.
      • The museum is located in what was formerly a 36 acre chalk quarry.  
      • It currently has 45 locomotives - five steam powered (only one of which is in service), 29 internal combustion and four battery electric locos.
      • It also has around 80 items of rolling stock, mostly goods wagons
      • Its collection ranges from 18 in (457 mm) gauge to 5 ft 3 in (1600 mm) gauge
      • The site also houses a collection of Southdown buses, located in a reconstructed 1920s Southdown bus garage.
      • The site also boasts a "Connected Earth" telecommunications exhibition, an Electricity Hall, a machine shop, a wheelwright's shop, a vintage wireless and communications exhibition including an amateur radio station, a reconstruction of Ockenden's Ironmonger's shop from Littlehampton, a timber yard and steam crane, a reconstructed 1930s village garage, the Paviors Hall of Road Making with a display of road construction techniques from Roman to contemporary, a cycle exhibition, a railway hall of exhibits (mostly from industrial railways), 'Billingshurst' Signal Box, a contractors' monorail, a rural telephone exchange, the Arundel Gin Building housing a lead working and plumbing display, a late 19th century brickyard drying shed, a 1930s roadside (Fairmile) Café,  the Dover Cottage Pump House and water pumping display, a stationary engine shed, a typical 1950s fire station, a toll bridge hut,  a working print shop, a cobbler's shop, and the Hall of Tools, with associated demonstrations by the Tools and Trades History Society
      • In addition, periodically there are demonstrations of woodturning, broom-making, walking stick-making and the work of a blacksmith and potters
      • On site there is also the quarry tunnel, which appeared as Mainstrike Mine in the James Bond film A View to a Kill
        

      Route



       

      My Impressions

      I visited on what was one of the hottest days of the year and so spent most of the time trying to find shade. Fortunately, the site of the museum has plenty of trees and some of the buildings were cool inside.

      Being a fan of industrial archaeology, I found plenty to capture my interest on the site but, after a few enquiries as to how long the trains would be running, I decided I needed to get my train rides in early before the heat of the day defeated them.

      A Hunslet diesel loco was sitting by the platform with a couple of small bogie coaches in tow, and so I boarded. The trains were supposed to be running every half hour, but it was quickly established that, because of the weather, they would run as and when they were needed.


      The route meandered along one side of the former quarry, steadily gaining height as the train progressed.

       We stopped briefly at the intermediate station at Brockham, ......
       

      ........before pressing on past the tunnel (featured in a James Bond movie) and past a collection of sheds housing the railway's collection of locomotives and stock.

      We passed over some fairly complex pointwork and ran alongside a section of dual gauge track before eventually arriving at the furthermost terminus of the line, Cragside.

       After touring the Railway Hall ......


       ...... and viewing some of the many exhibits, and also trying out many of the hand-on exhibits in the Electricity Centre, ......


      ....... I reboarded the train for the return trip.

      After a refreshing cuppa and a cake in the site's café, I had another wander around some of the exhibits. There were no live demonstrations of crafts as it was mid-week outside the school holidays, but it was clear that there was likely to be a good range of fascinating displays of expertise and talent on offer.

      Source: Wikimedia

      I spent only around three hours at the museum, but I could easily have filled a whole day - particularly when displays of craftwork were scheduled. However, the extreme heat (c36C) defeated me, and I was forced to seek refuge in my air-conditioned car.

      The site is well laid out and most of the displays have been well curated and made accessible for a range of interests and ages. Even on the wettest of days, there are plenty of indoor exhibits to pass the time.

      To my mind, the entrance fee is extremely good value, given the range of what is on offer.


      Video

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