Old Kiln Light Railway

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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[1] 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,[2] 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.[3]
Motor Rail 8981 1946 Diesel 4w DM Midhurst Whites. Purchased by OKLR in 1986.[4] 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.[4] 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.[5] 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)

References