The Audley End Miniature Railway is a

miniature railway A ridable miniature railway (US: riding railroad or grand scale railroad) is a large scale, usually ground-level railway that hauls passengers using locomotives that are often models of full-sized railway locomotives (powered by diesel or petro ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, England.

Overview

The -gauge circuit was built by

Lord Braybrooke Baron Braybrooke, of Braybrooke in the County of Northampton, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1788 for John Griffin, 4th Baron Howard de Walden, with remainder to his kinsman Richard Neville-Aldworth. Lord How ...

and was opened on 16 May 1964 by famous racing driver

Sir Stirling Moss Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British Formula One racing driver. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, he won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several categories of comp ...

. The railway runs for through woodland adjacent to Audley End House, former home of the Braybrookes, now in the ownership of

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

. The woodland contains a large number of

teddy bear A teddy bear is a stuffed toy in the form of a bear. Developed apparently simultaneously by toymakers Morris Michtom in the U.S. and Richard Steiff under his aunt Margarete Steiff's company in Germany in the early 20th century, the teddy b ...

s and other soft toys arranged in displays. The line has two

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

s and crosses the River Cam and River Fulfen. The bridge across the Cam retains the original

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

pillbox Pillbox may refer to: * Pill organizer, a container for medicine * Pillbox hat, a woman's hat with a flat crown, straight upright sides, and no brim * Pillbox (military) A pillbox is a type of blockhouse, or concrete dug-in guard-post, norm ...

. The site is also home to the Saffron Walden & District Society of Model Engineers who run short circular , and tracks at both raised and ground levels on Saturdays and Sundays during the summer months. In January 2019 the railway's owners announced the sale of nine locomotives, including four by

David Curwen David C. Curwen (30 November 1913 – 26 May 2011) was an English miniature railway steam locomotive mechanical engineer. Born in Sydenham, South London, and educated at King's School, Canterbury, Curwen worked from 1935 to 1945 for Short Broth ...

, to “raise £180,000 and secure the railway's future”. The auction by Dreweatt's was scheduled for 12 March 2019.Dreweatt’s: The Lord Braybrooke Collection of fine live steam locomotives from Audley End, 12 March 2019
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References

* Lord Braybrooke, ''Audley End Railway'' 2004

External links

Official web site
Miniature railways in the United Kingdom 7¼ in gauge railways in England 10¼ in gauge railways in England Transport in Essex {{England-rail-transport-stub