The

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

Lynbarn Railway opened in 1995 as a park ride at the Milky Way Adventure Park, a family-based theme park attraction near

Clovelly Clovelly () is a privately-owned harbour village in the Torridge district of Devon, England. The settlement and surrounding land belongs to John Rous who inherited it from his mother in 1983. He belongs to the Hamlyn family who have managed t ...

in north

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It was built and operated by enthusiast volunteers working to revive the

Lynton and Barnstaple Railway The Lynton and Barnstaple Railway (L&B) opened as an independent railway in May 1898. It was a single track, narrow gauge railway and was slightly over long running through the rugged and picturesque area bordering Exmoor in North Devon, ...

(L&B) – a nearby historical line running through

Exmoor Exmoor is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simonsbath ...

. Built to the same rail gauge – {{RailGauge, 1ft11.5in – as the L&B, but with a considerably smaller loading gauge, the ride made significant contributions to the finances, skills and expertise of the L&B and was substantially extended and improved during 2003/2004. So they could concentrate on operating at Woody Bay the L&B sold their share in the Lynbarn operation to the owners of the Milky Way Adventure Park, who now operate the ride along with the other attractions. The "Lynbarn" uses three coaches that were part of a lot bought by the L&B and formerly based at

Thorpe Park Thorpe Park Resort, commonly known as Thorpe Park, is an amusement park located in the village of Thorpe between the towns of Chertsey and Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey, England, southwest of Central London. It is operated by Merlin Entertai ...

in Surrey. A further four of these coaches were fully rebuilt, and carried passengers at the L&B (Woody Bay) between 2004 and 2013. The coaches were sold in May 2014 to the Statfold Barn Railway as they were surplus to requirements, following the introduction of original restored L&B carriages. There are also a number of service wagons, used for maintaining the track. Motive power was provided by two steam outline diesel locomotives. One of these, ''

Parracombe Parracombe is a rural settlement south-west of Lynton, in Devon, England. It is situated in the Heddon Valley, on Exmoor. The population at the 2011 census was 293. A number Bronze Age barrows exist nearby, along with several other small ear ...

'', was built by

Baguley Baguley ( ) is an electoral ward of the city of Manchester in Wythenshawe, England. The population at the 2011 census was 14,794. Baguley is derived from the Old English words Bagca, badger, and Leah, clearing or meadow. Historically in Cheshi ...

in 1947 for the line at

Butlins Butlin's is a chain of large seaside resorts in the United Kingdom. Butlin's was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families. Between 1936 and 1966, ten camps were built, including one in Ireland and o ...

, Clacton. A scene from that period featured in the closing sequences of a popular TV series ''

Hi-de-Hi! ''Hi-de-Hi!'' is a BBC television sitcom shown on BBC1 from 1 January 1980 to 30 January 1988. Set in 1959 and 1960 in Maplins, a fictional holiday camp, the show was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, who also wrote '' Dad's Army'' an ...

'' (1979-1987). This loco was transferred to the

Groudle Glen Railway The Groudle Glen Railway ( Manx: ''Raad Yiarn Glion Ghroudal'') is a narrow gauge railway near Onchan in the Isle of Man, on the boundary of Onchan and Lonan, which is owned and operated by a small group of enthusiastic volunteers and oper ...

in 2007.

External links

Lynbarn Railway at the Milky Way Adventure Park website
Lynton and Barnstaple Railway 1 ft 11½ in gauge railways in England Tourist attractions in Devon

See also

External links