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

Web:      https://www.amberleynarrowgauge.co.uk/

Email:    office@amberleymuseum.co.uk

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