Old Kiln Light Railway

Old Kiln Light Railway
Surrey
"Altonia" at Reeds Road, 5 April 2015
Gauge:	2 feet
Grid reference:	SU857434
Location:	51°11’1"N, -0°46’29"W
No. of stations:	4
Track:	½ mile
Information
Website:	oldkilnlightrailway.co.uk

The Old Kiln Light Railway is a 2-foot gauge railway at the Rural Life Living Museum in Tilford, near Farnham, Surrey. It has a collection of historic locomotives and rolling stock including two steam locomotives. It operates on many summer Sundays and Bank Holidays.

History

Founded in the early 1970s as a heritage 'Wey Valley Light Railway', it was first located around a disused pumping station in Farnham. In 1982 the land was sold for housing and the track and equipment were moved to the Old Kiln Museum, now known as the Rural Life Centre. The line has since lengthened around the centre and a small stretch of track serves the museum's heritage timber yard demonstration area.

Stations

Reeds Road Station

The railway has four stations: Reeds Road, Old Kiln Halt, Oatlands and Mills Wood. Reeds Road was built in 2003 to replace a sleeper-built platform, is the south-western terminus, has a passenger waiting room, a run-round loop and a siding for storing rolling stock. Reeds Road

Old Kiln Halt

Old Kiln Halt has a short platform and passenger shelter and is near the old schoolroom at the centre. The locomotive works and carriage sheds are here, along with further storage sidings.

Oatlands was the far terminus of the line until extension to Mills Wood. It is used for Santa Special trains and has a small waiting room with a stove. it was previously named "Waverley End Station".

Mills Wood Station

Mills Wood is the other terminus of the line, on the north-east side of the Rural Life Centre. It has a waiting room, partly built from the body of an old Portsdown and Horndean Light Railway passenger tram although is not complete, a run-round loop and a connection to the woodyard operated by the Rustic Timber Group.

Steam locomotives

Name	Builder	Works No	Built	Whyte notation	Notes	Photograph
Pamela	Hunslet	920	1906	0-4-0 ST	Built for Penrhyn Quarry, North Wales. Requires a new boiler before it can return to service. Most of the body above the frames is from a Hudswell Clarke when Pamela was worn out and rebuilt by Penrhyn Quarry when the expenses of new parts were found to be very costly.
Elouise	Orenstein & Koppel	9998	1922	0-6-0 WT	Supplied new to Servicios` Florestais, Portugal. Undergoing an overhaul.
Emmet	Jim Haylock		2005	0-4-0 T	Currently on loan from the Moors Valley Railway. This loco was constructed using the frame of a 1937 O&K 4wDM loco. Operational.

Internal combustion locomotives

Name	Builder	Works No	Built	Fuel	Whyte notation	Notes	Photograph
Altonia	Baguley	1769	1928	Diesel	0-4-0 DH	Supplied new to the Lilleshall Abbey Woodland Railway. Moved to the Alton Towers Park Railway in 1952. Purchased for preservation by a private owner in 2002 and moved to Surrey. Sold in 2010, and then permanently loaned to the OKLR in 2012.
	Motor Rail	8981	1946	Diesel	4w DM	Midhurst Whites. Purchased by OKLR in 1986. Re-gauged from 2 foot 6" to 2 feet
Phoebe	Motor Rail	8887	1944	Diesel	4w DM	Ex-War Department
Eagle	Motor Rail	5713	1936	Diesel	4w DM	Supplied to the Staveley Coal and Iron Company's Campbell Brickyard. Moved to Stanton & Staveley Concrete Pipe works in Ilkeston in 1968. Purchased by Alan Keef, then sold to Brian Gent in 1980 and moved to the Wey Valley Railway. Moved to the OKLR in 1982. Fitted with Dorman 2RB Engine
Fido	Motor Rail	5297	1931	Petrol	4w PM	Used at the Weydon Lane sand pits in Farnham
Sandrock	Ruston & Hornsby	177639	1936	Diesel	4w DM	Supplied to the County Borough of Derby. Under overhaul.
Red Dwarf	Ruston & Hornsby	181820	1936	Diesel	4w DM	Ex-Severn Trent Water Authority. Operational.
Norden	Ruston & Hornsby	392117	1956	Diesel	4w DM	Contractor locomotive for Hadley Wood tunnelling scheme for British Rail. Worked on the Fayle's Tramway at Norden in Dorset. Currently on loan to Purbeck Mineral and Mining Museum. Operational.
Hibberd	2528	1941	Diesel	4w DM	War Department, Ministry Of Defence, Liphook. Named 'Corbiere' after her previous owner. Now owned by a member of the OKLR.
	Moës	n/a	1955	Diesel	4w DM	Built for a brickworks in Rumpst, Belgium. Privately owned by Dan Quine. Returned from restoration to working order in 2017.
Stinker	Hudson Hunslet	1944	1939	Diesel	4w DM	Ex-Enfield Rolling Mills. Used in the Basingstoke Canal restoration. Operational.
Champion	Hunslet	AD36	1971	Diesel	4w DH	Ex-Lydd Ranges in Kent
Wey valley	Hunslet	AD37	1971	Diesel	4w DH	Ex-Lydd Ranges in Kent. Rebuilt in 1988 by Andrew Barclay .
Weyfarer	Hunslet	AD38	1971	Diesel	4w DH	Ex-Lydd Ranges in Kent
Liz	Wickham	3031	1941	Petrol	4w PM	Rebuilt in 1973 by Jim Haytor from an unmanned target trolley with a single cylinder Petter engine.
Sue	Wickham	2981	1941	Petrol	4w PM	Rebuilt by E.J. Stephens in 1977 from unmanned target trolley with a 850cc Reliant engine

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Old Kiln Light Railway)

• Old Kiln Light Railway
• Gallery of photographs at Narrow Gauge Heaven