The Sanday Light Railway was a privately owned

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 ...

situated in Braeswick, on the island of Sanday,

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The railway was of

gauge Gauge ( or ) may refer to: Measurement * Gauge (instrument), any of a variety of measuring instruments * Gauge (firearms) * Wire gauge, a measure of the size of a wire ** American wire gauge, a common measure of nonferrous wire diameter, es ...

. The first rails were laid down in 1999, and the line closed at the end of 2006. It was the most northerly passenger carrying railway in the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

, and although it was primarily the owner's hobby it did achieve the status of a

tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural b ...

and local curiosity. The railway sometimes ran one of its two

steam locomotives 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 ...

, a

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

and a

2-4-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles and no trailing wheels. The notation 2-4-0T indi ...

, but more often one of three

petrol Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...

locomotives. The railway also owned a number of items of rolling stock, including a very rare Cromar White first-class carriage. Although trains had been operating occasionally in some form beforehand, the railway was officially opened to the public in August 2006 by Sir

Peter Maxwell Davies Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (8 September 1934 – 14 March 2016) was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music. As a student at both the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Music ...

just a few months before its closure, which was variously attributed to the owner being unable to keep his promise to hold Sir Peter's civil partnership ceremony there or unreasonable demands placed upon the railway's operators by local council officials. As of 2008 the owner was taking legal action against a number of organisations over perceived discrimination and misconduct by those organisations, in relation to the railway, its associated tea-rooms and the abortive civil partnership ceremony.

References

External links

* * {{Use dmy dates, date=May 2011 Heritage railways in Scotland 7¼ in gauge railways in Scotland Transport in Orkney 2000 establishments in Scotland Railways on Scottish Islands Sanday, Orkney