Visit to the Railway at Fawley Hill

Many railway enthusiasts can only dream of having their own garden railway with model trains to play with at their leisure. The Late Sir William McAlpine however went one step further for it is not a model railway which resides in the garden but a full size standard gauge railway running for almost a mile in length.  Not content with that alone, the railway also contains the steepest track for a conventional railway in the UK - if not the world - with a gradient of 1/13!  The railway began life in 1964 when Sir William, the great grandson of railway pioneer Sir Robert McAlpine (famed as 'Concrete Bob' for his work on the West Highland Extension), purchased locomotive No 31, a Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0 which was to be scrapped by his company.  A short length of track was laid for the locomotive and the railway has expanded ever since. 

 Not only does the Fawley Hill  railway, near Henley on Thames, have track and it's own locomotive, the collection of artefacts is quite astonishing!  A two storey museum is packed with model railways, locomotive nameplates, station benches, cutlery - quite literally everything.  (No photos allowed in the museum).

As is that was not enough the grounds contain even more unusual railway artefacts - three complete stations, a signal box, footbridge, oh and two arches from Waterloo station removed for the construction of the international terminal.

This footbridge came from Brading Station on the Isle of Wight.  It is thought to date from before 1900.

It was replaced at Brading by a new bridge in 2000, the original coming to Fawley.  The span was reduced, and erected, as above, in September 2001.

These are arches from Waterloo Station, which were part of the roadway from Westminster Bridge Road up to the station.  They were removed in 1991 when Waterloo was expanded for the Eurostar service through the Channel Tunnel.

Capital from the old Blackfriars Railway Bridge.  The bridge was built  in 1864 and was demolished in the 1960s.  The four cast iron Capitals were left in place until the  mid 1980s, when the two on the north side were removed.  One of these is now at Fawley (above).  The two south-side Capitals remain in place in restored condition.

In a strange way, all these artefacts seem quite at home with an equally interesting collection of wildlife.

Thank you to the volunteers at Fawley Hill for having us and the Wellington Invincibles for organising the day.  A most enjoyable day was had by all.

We returned home via the Henley Regatta.