The Lappa Valley Railway is a

minimum gauge railway Minimum-gauge railways have a gauge of most commonly , , , , , or . The notion of minimum-gauge railways was originally developed by estate railways and the French company of Decauville for light railways, trench railways, mining, and farming ...

located near

Newquay Newquay ( ; kw, Tewynblustri) is a town on the north coast in Cornwall, in the south west of England. It is a civil parish, seaside resort, regional centre for aerospace industries, spaceport and a fishing port on the North Atlantic coast of ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

. The railway functions as a tourist attraction, running from Benny Halt () to East Wheal Rose (), where there is a leisure area with two miniature railways.

History

Treffry's Tramway

In 1843,

Joseph Treffry Joseph Austen Treffry (1782 – 29 January 1850) was an engineer, mining adventurer, and industrialist who became a significant landowner in Cornwall, England. Biography Born in Plymouth, Devon as Joseph Thomas Austen, to Joseph Austen (d 1786 ...

suggested building a tramway between Par and

, with a branch line to the

East Wheal Rose East Wheal Rose was a metalliferous mine around south east of the village of St Newlyn East and is around from Newquay on the north Cornwall coast, United Kingdom. The country rock at the mine was killas and its main produce was lead ore ( ...

silver lead mine, which at the time was entering its most prosperous period. Treffry spent six years trying to overcome public opposition to the tramway and was forced to modify his intended route. The

Treffry Tramways The Treffry Tramways were a group of mineral tramways in Cornwall in the United Kingdom, constructed by Joseph Treffry (1782-1850), a local land owner and entrepreneur. They were constructed to give transport facilities to several mines and pits ...

were eventually built from Newquay to St. Dennis with the branch line to East Wheal Rose, and the first load of ore left East Wheal Rose on 26 February 1849 in horse-drawn tubs. 1874 saw the Treffry's network of tramways taken over by the

Cornwall Minerals Railway The Cornwall Minerals Railway owned and operated a network of of standard gauge railway lines in central Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It started by taking over an obsolescent horse-operated tramway in 1862, and it improved and extended i ...

, who introduced steam locomotives to the line.

Great Western Railway

The

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

took over the Cornish Minerals Railway in 1896, and incorporated the East Wheal Rose branch into a new railway from Newquay to Chacewater via. Perranporth. This new railway was opened in 1905, and enabled passengers to reach the market town of Truro much quicker than they had before. The Newquay to Chacewater branch line also proved popular for holidaymakers. The railway closed on 4 February 1963 under the Beeching cuts.

Lappa Valley Steam Railway

The Lappa Valley Steam Railway was established by Eric Booth in the 1970s. The trackbed was cleared of the thick undergrowth that had grown since the closure of the railway in 1963, and gauge track was laid for between Benny Halt and East Wheal Rose. A brand new steam locomotive ''Zebedee'' was built for the line by

Severn Lamb Severn Lamb, sometimes known as Severn-Lamb, are manufacturers of various forms of transport systems and equipment, principally aimed at the leisure market. They are based at Alcester in the England, English county of Warwickshire, but sell thei ...

, arriving in early 1974 with 4 locally-built carriages. The railway opened to the public on 16 June 1974. A large boating lake was dug at East Wheal Rose in 1975 to drain the area, and the whole East Wheal Rose area landscaped. More locomotives arrived from Longleat in 1976, with more carriages also being built at the time. In the 1970s a gauge railway was laid around a smaller boating lake, whilst a third railway, of gauge, running a further along the old trackbed was opened in May 1995. In 2014 a new owner acquired the railway and made various improvements. A new visitor attraction called the 'Engine Shed' opened in 2021.

The route of Lappa Valley

* Benny Halt *

East Wheal Rose

At East Wheal Rose, the gauge Newlyn Branch Line and gauge Woodland Railway depart from the top station on the Newlyn Branch Line, where there is another children's play area. There are two lakes, the biggest being the boating lake, the second smaller lake being the wildlife lake, a crazy golf course and many children's play areas. Also there are a gift shop and

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...

, and a

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

path A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail. Path or PATH may also refer to: Physical paths of different types * Bicycle path * Bridle path, used by people on horseback * Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle * Desire p ...

maze A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lea ...

depicting the first

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

built by

Richard Trevithick Richard Trevithick (13 April 1771 – 22 April 1833) was a British inventor and mining engineer. The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age. He w ...

, along with many walks through the valley.

Stocklist

External links

Railway website
{{15 inch gauge railways Lappa Valley Steam Railway 15 in gauge railways in England Miniature railways in the United Kingdom