The Far Tottering and Oyster Creek Branch Railway (or Far Tottering and Oyster Creek Railway) was a gauge

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 petrol ...

created by

Rowland Emett Frederick Rowland Emett OBE (22 October 190613 November 1990), known as Rowland Emett (with the forename sometimes spelled "Roland" s his middle name appears on his birth certificateand the surname frequently misspelled "Emmett"), was an Engl ...

. A whimsical view of British rural life and embodying his typical fanciful mechanics, it echoed the similar works of

Heath Robinson William Heath Robinson (31 May 1872 – 13 September 1944) was an English cartoonist, illustrator and artist, best known for drawings of whimsically elaborate machines to achieve simple objectives. In the UK, the term "Heath Robinson contr ...

and

Rube Goldberg Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg (July 4, 1883 – December 7, 1970), known best as Rube Goldberg, was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor. Goldberg is best known for his popular cartoons depicting complicated gadge ...

. The railway began in a series of cartoons in ''Punch'' magazine in 1939, as the "Far Tottering and Oyster Creek Railway."

Festival of Britain

It was chosen as an attraction for the 1951

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: ...

events on the

South Bank The South Bank is an entertainment and commercial district in central London, next to the River Thames opposite the City of Westminster. It forms a narrow strip of riverside land within the London Borough of Lambeth (where it adjoins Alber ...

. As the "Far Tottering and Oyster Creek Branch Railway", the third of a mile long railway carried over two million passengers through

Battersea Pleasure Gardens Battersea Park is a 200-acre (83-hectare) green space at Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth in London. It is situated on the south bank of the River Thames opposite Chelsea, London, Chelsea and was opened in 1858. The park occupies ...

Locomotives

The three locomotives were: ; No. 1 ''Nellie'' : a saddle tank ; No. 2 ''Neptune'' : as much

paddle steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses wer ...

as locomotive ; No. 3 ''Wild Goose'' : supposedly made from an

airship An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

They were constructed to Emett's designs by Harry Barlow, using war-surplus Fordson

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

s on a fifteen inch gauge

4-6-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and two trailing wheels on one axle. The locomotiv ...

chassis. The Barlow chassis of ''Neptune'' would later become ''Prince Charles'' on the

Lakeside Miniature Railway The gauge, single track Lakeside Miniature Railway runs along the seaward side of the Marine Lake in Southport, England. Route The railway originally consisted of a straight running line on the seaward shore of the Southport Marine Lake ...

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

Operation and 1951 accident

Due to the layout of the line (single, sharply curved, with tunnels) it was operated on a form of token system, whereby the trains themselves formed the token. As three trains would be in operation at any one time, and each station had two platforms (one train at each of the two station, one moving going into the empty platform at the terminus), a train was safe to proceed if the driver could see another train in the platform next to them. However, on 11 July 1951, two full trains approached head-on on the single track section, close to Oyster Creek station. One woman died and 12 to 13 other people were injured. It is unknown what sequence of events caused this to happen and there appears not to have been a parliamentary enquiry after the accident, although ''"there were a few ... parliamentary questions"''.

Later life and closure

After the closure of the Festival, the Pleasure Gardens became part of

Battersea Park Battersea Park is a 200-acre (83-hectare) green space at Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth in London. It is situated on the south bank of the River Thames opposite Chelsea and was opened in 1858. The park occupies marshland reclai ...

. The railway continued on the same site until 1953; then was moved to another site in the park as the Festival Gardens Railway. In this form it was about 840 yards (760 metres) long, and ran from a station at the Queen's Gate, parallel to the Eastern and Northern Carriage Drives, to a station at Chelsea Bridge, via a " halt" at the Funfair. It continued with other Barlow locomotives until 1975, when the line closed, partially due to the decline of the funfair itself. Part of a cutting for the line is still visible near the tennis courts.

References

External links

* * * * * {{15 inch gauge railways Festival of Britain 15 in gauge railways in England Closed railway lines in London