Fancott Miniature Railway

Fancott Miniature Railway
Locale Fancott, Bedfordshire
Terminus Fancott Station
Coordinates 51°56′24″N 0°30′47″W / 51.939982°N 0.513032°W / 51.939982; -0.513032Coordinates: 51°56′24″N 0°30′47″W / 51.939982°N 0.513032°W / 51.939982; -0.513032
Connections None
Commercial operations
Name Fancott Miniature Railway
Original gauge 7 14 in (184 mm)
Preserved operations
Stations One, the terminus.
Length 1,000 yards (914 m)
Commercial history
Opened 1975
Preservation history
Fancott Miniature Railway
Legend
270m Steaming Bay Junction
055m Station Junction
000m Fancott Station                        

About

The Fancott Miniature Railway (FMR)[1] is a 7¼ inch railway located in the gardens of the Fancott public house[2] in Fancott (near Toddington), Bedfordshire, England. The track is laid in an oval with a triangular junction giving access to the station and with a separate steaming bay inside the oval. The FMR is part of Britain's Great Little Railways.[3]

History

1975The Original 1014 inch Fancott Light Railway was opened. The railway was operated by Mr E Harper.
1986The Original line closed.
1996A new railway was opened by Alexander James Wallman, the son of the pubs owner, A 714 inch railway was laid and operated by a Mr R Bennet and the resident locomotive at this time was an 040 Romulus Ffreddy (Which left in 2001).
2000The railway was taken over by Mr R Stanbridge, who ran it with his son Matthew.
2001The railway was removed once again, a new railway was to be laid and new engine sheds constructed, this was to be completed by early 2002. The engine shed and track bed was almost completed by the end of October 2001.
20021000 yards of track was hand-built and points constructed in Bristol. 200 tons of 14mm stone was delivered, track beds and drainage were done and a level crossing was built for extra parking space.
2003A steel foot bridge was installed to allow people over the railway. By this time the entire railway had been fenced off.
2005The extra car park was closed and plans for a steaming bay and signal box were made.
2007A point motor was added allowing the railway to run clockwise for the 1st time in 7 years. Staff at this time were, Ron the Manager and his crew Jim, Jack and Amy, with Matt helping out from time to time.
2008Amy left the railway to pursue other goals, Ron then took on his youngest son Ashley.[4] This year also saw the introduction of full aspect colour lights on the FMR to be used when running many trains.
2009The railway is currently a huge success, thanks to the devoted manager Ron Stanbridge with help from the crew and of course Paul and Janet Wallman the Pub owners. 2009 also introduced a new concept to the Fancott, with customers being able to book the railway.
2010A new loop line has been installed so that both platforms 1 and 2 can be access when arriving in the station.
2015On March 3 a fire breaks out destroying pub outbuildings, the railway shed, locomotives and carriages.[5] The railway reopened July 4 running with a borrowed locomotive (Nipa) and carriages from Swanley and Newbarn Railway. The locomotive and carriage sheds were rebuilt and all new track laid where the fire had spread. A 2nd locomotive (Dark Star) was bought shortly after the fire.

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, December 13, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.