The Radwell Manor Railway was a gauge miniature railway situated in the village of
Radwell, near
Felmersham
Felmersham is a small village and civil parish in the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England, on the River Great Ouse, about north west of Bedford. As a civil parish, it includes the hamlet of Radwell, and is sometimes known as Felmersham ...
, in North
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...
,
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 by Mr. H. W. Franklin, who was closely associated with the
Bassett-Lowke
Bassett-Lowke was an English toy manufacturing company based in Northampton. Founded by Wenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke in 1898 or 1899, the company specialized in model railways, boats and ships, and construction sets. Bassett-Lowke started as a ...
company of
Northampton, and whose products were often tested on its of track. The privately run railway opened in 1920, and ceased operating with the onset of the
Second World War
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 opposi ...
, around 1939. However, much of the railway remained intact until at least the early 1960s because it was seen in approximately 1960-1962 by a young railway enthusiast who was exploring the area.
Radwell Miniature Railway
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Layout
According to Wenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke
Wenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke (27 December 1877 Northampton – 21 October 1953) was the son of Joseph Tom Lowke, a Northampton boilermaker and his wife, Eliza, and is noted for having founded the firm of Bassett-Lowke which specialised in producing ...
, the RMR had a length of "all but , and among its attractions are an up-to-date station, a tunnel, viaducts, embankments and cuttings ... and several over-bridges, together with a complete system of signalling."
The main viaduct was long, with four spans, and the embankment supporting it was high The trackwork consisted of flat-bottom rail in lengths, supported on steel sleepers
''Sleepers'' is a 1996 American legal crime drama film written, produced, and directed by Barry Levinson, and based on Lorenzo Carcaterra's 1995 book of the same name. The film stars Kevin Bacon, Jason Patric, Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro, Dustin H ...
.
Other features included sidings, engine and carriage sheds, a water tower
A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towers often operate in conju ...
and a turntable
A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...
.
Steam locomotives
Loadstone
An adaptation of a Raven design of three-cylinder Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
, as ran on the North Eastern Railway. It had cylinders, driving wheels, a working pressure of , an overall length (engine and tender) of , and a working weight of . It could achieve a speed of .
Highland Mary
A 4-4-0 design. She had cylinders of , driving wheels of , a working pressure of , and an overall length (engine and tender) of .
See also
* For other miniature railways, see Ridable 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 ...
.
Sources
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Miniature railways in the United Kingdom
10¼ in gauge railways in England