Hollycombe Steam Collection viewed from the big wheel

The Hollycombe Steam Collection is a collection of steam-powered vehicles, amusement rides, and attractions in South East England. It is based in

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

, but the closest town is Liphook in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

. The collection includes fairground rides, a display farm, two railways, and the

woodland garden A woodland garden is a garden or section of a garden that includes large trees and is laid out so as to appear as more or less natural woodland, though it is often actually an artificial creation. Typically it includes plantings of flowering shr ...

History

The collection dates to the late 1940s when Commander John Baldock decided to preserve some steam traction engines that were rapidly disappearing from British life. By the early 1960s, he had acquired a significant collection of road vehicles and began collecting fairground rides. In the late 1960s, he extended his interests again into preserving railway equipment. Baldock's collection was opened to the public and became a major tourist attraction. Over time the collection grew so large it became impossible for one person to maintain, and by 1984 Baldock decided he would have to close the operation. A society was formed by volunteers to operate the collection. This was successful and the collection continued to expand. At the beginning of 1999, a charitable trust took over most of the collection and its operation, funded by a Heritage Lottery Fund grant.

Attractions

Edwardian Fairground

Hollycombe Steam Collection Razzle Dazzle

The Edwardian Fairground is offers an example of a steam fair comprising rides originating from the 1870s and later. Rides are built and operated on a seasonal rotation to allow the volunteers of Hollycombe Steam Collection opportunity to maintain and restore the collection. The rides include a Tidman three-abreast Golden Gallopers

roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford Eng ...

, a single steam yacht, and a razzle dazzle (a grand aerial novelty ride with a rotating and tilting movement). S. Fields Steam Circus was built between 1868 and 1872 and is the oldest surviving mechanically propelled fairground device. The fairground also has a set of steam swings, a set of Walker Chair-o-Planes, a big wheel, and a

Bioscope show A Bioscope show was a music hall and fairground attraction consisting of a travelling cinema. The heyday of the Bioscope was from the late 1890s until World War I. History Bioscope shows were fronted by the largest fairground organs, and these f ...

(an early travelling cinema). The rides are constructed mainly of wood and where appropriate are powered by

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be ...

s. There are rides for all ages and the atmosphere is completed with a number of fairground organs and a range of side stalls.

Farm

The farm includes a wide range of vintage steam-powered farm equipment including ploughing engines, a

threshing machine A threshing machine or a thresher is a piece of farm equipment that threshes grain, that is, it removes the seeds from the stalks and husks. It does so by beating the plant to make the seeds fall out. Before such machines were developed, thr ...

, a

baler A baler or hay baler is a piece of farm machinery used to compress a cut and raked crop (such as hay, cotton, flax straw, salt marsh hay, or silage) into compact bales that are easy to handle, transport, and store. Often, bales are configu ...

, and a

stationary steam engine Stationary steam engines are fixed steam engines used for pumping or driving mills and factories, and for power generation. They are distinct from Steam locomotive, locomotive engines used on Rail transport, railways, traction engines for heavy s ...

driving small machinery through a

line shaft A line shaft is a power-driven rotating shaft for power transmission that was used extensively from the Industrial Revolution until the early 20th century. Prior to the widespread use of electric motors small enough to be connected directly t ...

. The sawmill is used to cut much of the wood used on-site and is powered by a large semi-portable Robey steam engine. Close by is the engine from the

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 ...

Caledonia Caledonia (; ) was the Latin name used by the Roman Empire to refer to the part of Great Britain () that lies north of the River Forth, which includes most of the land area of Scotland. Today, it is used as a romantic or poetic name for all ...

''.

Railways

There are two railways:

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 ...

and

miniature A miniature is a small-scale reproduction, or a small version. It may refer to: * Portrait miniature, a miniature portrait painting * Miniature art, miniature painting, engraving and sculpture * Miniature (chess), a masterful chess game or proble ...

. A third

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in E ...

line formerly operated but is now abandoned; further detail below.

Woodland Gardens

John Clarke Hawkshaw planted over a million trees on the Hollycombe estate from the 1880s, so it is a Victorian garden in origin. Planting continued into the 20th century and then, after a long pause before and after the war years, Clarke's son Oliver planted the

Azalea Azaleas are flowering shrubs in the genus '' Rhododendron'', particularly the former sections '' Tsutsusi'' (evergreen) and '' Pentanthera'' (deciduous). Azaleas bloom in the spring (April and May in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, and Oct ...

Walk in the mid-1920s, with the new Mollis hybrids from Knaphill. Baldock continued to manage and develop the gardens from the 1950s. Hunslet 638 Jerry M Dinorwic Slate Quarries 1951

Hunslet 638 Jerry M Dinorwic Slate Quarries 1951

Miniature railway

The miniature railway at Hollycombe is gauge. It starts at the station by the saw mill and climbs past crossing gates and through a cutting. It reaches the top and bends to the left. The fairground is then on the left and the woodland gardens is on the right. It then heads into another cutting before a 360-degree loop onto an embankment. It runs parallel with a five-inch gauge line into the two-platform station. Commander b

Steam engines

The collection has over 30 different steam engines of various types.Old Glory No. 229 List of Engines in Museums February, 2009

References

* *

External links

Hollycombe Official Website
{{authority control Railway museums in England Museums in West Sussex Rail transport in West Sussex 2 ft gauge railways in England Steam museums in England Amusement museums in the United Kingdom Miniature railways in the United Kingdom Woodland gardens