Amberley Museum Railway facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Amberley Museum Railway Collection

Bagnall 0-4-0ST 'Peter' and a passenger train nears Brockham Station
Overview
Dates of operation	1982–Present
Technical
Track gauge	2 ft (610 mm)
Length	500 yd (460 m)
Other
Website	Amberley Museum and Heritage Centre Rail Group website

The Amberley Museum and Heritage Centre Railway is a 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge railway based at the Amberley Museum & Heritage Centre, Amberley, West Sussex. It has a varied collection of engines and rolling stock ranging from 18 in (457 mm) gauge to 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) gauge. It operates passenger trains at the museum using a mixture of steam, internal combustion and battery-electric locomotives.

History

Pre-Preservation

Before the advent of Amberley Museum, the site was a chalk quarry operated by Pepper & Sons. The site had its own loco worked 4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm) standard gauge railway, which connected with the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway at Amberley station. Over the years Peppers owned a range of locos, including Marshall and Aveling & Porter steam designs, and a Hibberd Planet petrol loco. When the site was abandoned in the late 1960s the track was lifted.

Early Days

When the museum opened in the late 1970s a small industrial railway was envisaged, operating typical narrow gauge industrial trains. The first loco to arrive on site was Hibberd Simplex 1980 from the City of Chichester Sewage Works at Apuldram. In 1982 the Thakeham Tiles company, located a few miles from the museum, donated its entire railway system including two Hudson Hunslet locos, several wagons and some track, a new conveyor system having started operation at the works. The donation was on the condition the whole lot was removed over a weekend. This was duly accomplished. Today some of the Thakeham track is still in use on non-passenger parts of the line, along with one of the locos (Hunslet 3653). The other, Hudson Hunslet 2208 is in store, having been used as a spares donor for the museum's other Hudson Hunslet locos. Also in 1982, the Brockham Museum in Surrey closed down and moved its entire stock to Amberley. This influx, including several steam locos, gave the inspiration to expand the operation to a passenger carrying line.

The Brockham story

The story of the Brockham Museum starts in 1960, when the Dorking Greystone Lime Co. of Betchworth, Surrey, was disposing of its railway stock and the company's general manager, Major Taylerson, was keen to see the locomotives preserved. The London Area Group of the Narrow Gauge Railway Society (NGRS) purchased one of the pair of 3 ft 2 ¹⁄₄ in (972 mm) gauge Fletcher Jennings tank locos, Townsend Hook. Initially this was placed on display at Sheffield Park station on the embryonic Bluebell Railway. However this was not a particularly satisfactory arrangement, and efforts were made to find an alternative home. A site was found at a disused chalk pit at Brockham, only a stone's throw from the old stamping grounds of Townsend Hook at Betchworth. Townsend Hook moved there in 1962. That year the two Orenstein & Koppel diesel locos from Betchworth were acquired: No. 6 Monty and No. 7, later named The Major in honour of Major Taylerson. The Brockham Museum Trust was formed as a separate entity from the NGRS, although the NGRS retained ownership of Townsend Hook and later acquisition Peter (Bagnall 2067) until the early 2000s. In 1967 the current flagship of the museum fleet was acquired, the 1905-built Bagnall 2-4-0T 1781 Polar Bear, from the Groudle Glen Railway. The story goes that Brockham were offered both Polar Bear and her sister, Sea Lion, along with all the carriages, for £50, but the museum could not raise that much money and instead purchased Polar Bear and two carriages, along with many spares from Sea Lion, which had been out of use since 1939, to keep Polar Bear in traffic. The museum continued to expand, becoming home to most of Amberley's current collection. However, by the early 1980s the limited access to the site forced a transfer away from Brockham, and Amberley was deemed the best location to move to.

The Combined Collection

A running line was built at Amberley from 1982 to 1984 running along one side of the pit between Amberley and Brockham stations. The inaugural train was hauled by Polar Bear, by that time back in steam. The Hudson Hunslet diesels 3097 and Blue Star were stalwarts of the passenger service in the 80s, until the arrival of Motor Rail Simplex 60S prototype 11001. In the mid-1980s Decauville 0-4-0WT 'Barbouilleur' entered service, and following Polar Bear's boiler being condemned around 1987, was the sole steam locomotive available until 1993. 'Polar Bear' re-entered traffic with a new boiler in 1993, and was joined that same year by 'Peter'. 'Townsend Hook' departed in 1995 to Eastleigh College for an ultimately ill-fated restoration attempt.

Expansion

The railway expanded in the 2000s. In the early 2000s it was decided that WW1 Baldwin 4-6-0PT 778 'Lion', which had been in store for many years, needed an alternative home for it to be restored, as it was far too big for the sharp curves on the Amberley system. It departed for the Leighton Buzzard railway, where it is now in service. A new exhibition hall for the Amberley railway, built with lottery funding, was opened in 2003. This building also serves as a carriage shed; the carriage fleet had previously suffered severe deterioration when stored outside. A new running shed was also built, opening in 2005. It serves as a dedicated operating and restoration base for the passenger steam fleet, as well as a dedicated home and charging station for the battery electric locos. The steam fleet was bolstered in 2006 by the arrival of the Hampshire Narrow Gauge Trust's Bagnall 0-4-0ST 2091 'Wendy'. The running line was extended in the 2000s, with the extension round the top of the pit to the new Cragside station opening in mid-2007. In 2008 Hunslet diesel-hydraulic 8969 'No. 12' entered service as the main non-steam passenger loco. The steam fleet grew again in 2009 when HNGRT's other steam loco, Quarry Hunslet 0-4-0ST 542 'Cloister' arrived. However both HNGRT locos left Amberley during summer 2012.

The line today

The main line runs from Amberley station near the museum entrance along the side of the pit past the De Witt lime kilns to Brockham station, currently the only intermediate station. From Brockham the line curves round the top of the pit, passes the running shed and ends up at Cragside station, across the pit from Brockham. The industrial (non-passenger) lines connect to the main line at Brockham station. At Amberley station there is a rarely used siding into the woodyard. Brockham has a small siding on Platform 2, as well as a former London, Brighton and South Coast Railway ticket office from Hove station. In addition there is the Betchworth Hall shed, used for the restoration of Townsend Hook; it will eventually be used as a museum to display the Dorking Greystone Lime Co. exhibits (Townsend Hook, Monty, The Major, wagons 10 and 60, and some miscellaneous items).

The railway holds its annual Gala Weekend on the second weekend of July each year, in addition to two Industrial Trains Days in April and October.

Locomotives

Listings correct as of December 2017

Engines marked 'In occasional use' are generally only operated at railway special events and are usually either on display in the museum building or stored in one of the sheds or the tunnel. Locos marked 'Air Fitted/Piped' are capable of hauling passenger trains.

Steam locomotives

Name	Works Number	Type	Gauge	Builder	Year built	Previous Operator	Status	Notes	Image
Polar Bear	1781	2-4-0T	2 ft (610 mm)	W.G. Bagnall	1905	Groudle Glen Railway	In use	Boiler Certificate expires in 2023. Air fitted.
Peter	2067	0-4-0ST	2 ft (610 mm) (3 ft (914 mm) until 1919)	W.G. Bagnall	1917	Cliffe Hill Quarry Co.	In use	Boiler Certificate expires in 2019. Air fitted.
Barbouilleur	1126	0-4-0WT	600 mm (1 ft 11 5⁄8 in) (Nominally 2 ft)	Decauville	1947	L'enterprise Gagneraud	Static display	Awaiting overhaul. Privately owned. Air fitted.
Townsend Hook	172L	0-4-0T	3 ft 2 1⁄4 in (972 mm)	Fletcher Jennings	1880	Dorking Greystone & Lime Co Ltd, Betchworth	Static display
23	23L	0-4-0T	1 ft 10 in (559 mm)	Wm. Spence	1920	Guinness Brewery, Dublin	Static display

Internal combustion locomotives

Battery-electric locomotives

Passenger Stock

• 1x RAF Fauld coach. Restored in 2007. Can run on its own or with the Lydd or Penrhyn coaches.
• 2x Lydd coaches. From Lydd Ranges in Kent. Can run together as a set or with the Fauld coach to make a 3-car set.
• 2x Penrhyn Quarry Railway coaches. Open top coaches, have to run with either the Fauld coach or one Lydd coach due to lack of a brake position or air brake reserve tanks.
• 4x Groudle Glen Railway coaches. Usually run with Polar Bear, but can run with certain other diesel and steam locos.
• Wickham trolley 3404. Originally trailer car for powered trolley 3403, now converted to push-pull trailer to run with battery loco 4998.
• 1x Thorpe Park coach. Built by Alan Keef. Body frame only, new bogies are to be ordered for this coach.

Gallery

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  'Polar Bear' on the headshunt at Amberley

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  'Polar Bear' and replica Groudle Glen carriages at Amberley

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  'Polar Bear' on the headshunt at Cragside

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  'Peter' and its passenger train at Brockham

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  'Jenny' on the headshunt at Amberley

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  'Jenny' runs round the train at Cragside

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  'Susan' at Amberley

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  'Susan' and 'Jenny' double head a train at Brockham

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  A Wickham trolley

Images for kids

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  A Wickham trolley