Seaside & Holiday Island Narrow Gauge

[BernardTPM]

Prestatyn 1972

 

[Nearholmer]

Lydd Ranges. definitely proper NG, rather than miniature, definitely at the seaside, but not exactly a "pleasure railway". http://wikimapia.org/7259034/Lydd-Ranges

 

The cheeky monkey who collated that has used photos that I know for definite that I took!

[Nearholmer]

And, one of the two best French ones that is still running http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~fhs/St.Trojan tramway.htm

[Hando]

The Rye and Camber Tramway's Scottish Cousin: the Strabathie Light Railway

This line served golfers at Murcar links as well as a brickworks at Seaton (not Devon)

http://www.tramwaybadgesandbuttons.com/page148/page152/styled-184/page607.html

https://doriccolumns.wordpress.com/industry/bricks-tiles-pottery/

 

 

 

The route

One of the SLR locos at Seaton Works with an ex-Aberdeen Tramcar (regauged to 3')

The Wickham Railcar 

[Tim V]

OK - how about Pecorama! Open top bus down to the seaside - what's more to like!

[Nearholmer]

"Sandy Shores" by Jamie Warren, was the layout I was trying to recall, rather similar to Neil's "Little Point". Can't find images on-line but definitely one to look out for.

 

Ah, found a video of it: 

 

 

 

Edited February 13, 2021 by Nearholmer

[PaulRhB]

3 hours ago, stewartingram said:

Weston super Mare, & Southport again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well good to see Petra again, I knew the chap who built her at Moors Valley and sadly passed away soon after. You had to be careful standing up if the tender was empty  

We called her the Gentleman’s sporting model due to the small front cabsheet. Many happy hours driving her on the shuttle to Lakeside. 

 

 

[PaulRhB]

On 13/02/2021 at 19:45, PaulRhB said:

 

Well good to see Petra again, I knew the chap who built her at Moors Valley and sadly passed away soon after. You had to be careful standing up if the tender was empty  

We called her the Gentleman’s sporting model due to the small front cabsheet. Many happy hours driving her on the shuttle to Lakeside. 

 

 

At her original home, must be 25 years ago!!! Super little loco. 

 

 

Edited August 16, 2023 by PaulRhB

[Nearholmer]

Interesting Belgian one, just over the border from France, which used every form of traction imaginable over its life. I think the loco here is petrol-electric, but TBH I’m not sure.

 

 

There is a very good tramway along the coast here now, but this one wasn’t part of that so far as I can work out, being a pure ‘station to seaside’ job. Possibly the electric tram took over the route and changed the gauge.

 

 

Edited February 13, 2021 by Nearholmer

[PatB]

Not a public operation, but would the Spurn Head system count? Servicing a lifeboat station seems a pretty seasidey thing to do.

[Nearholmer]

It would if it was NG, but it was SG, wasn’t it?

 

Perhaps we should grant it honorary NG status.

[russ p]

22 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Well .......... since we're mentally on holiday here, a bit of slackness is permitted. Miniatures included.

 

Anyone got any photos of the Wells Harbour Railway? That sits right at the boundary between NG and miniature IMO, and is very "seasidey".

 

We often use it in the summer, have a walk to the beach and get the train back 

[Hando]

The Jersey Railway was re-gauged in the 1880s from standard gauge to 3' 6".

Edited February 14, 2021 by Hando

[whart57]

There was a tramway from the Dutch naval port town of Den Helder to a beach resort called Huisduinen

 

 

 

The main function of the line was transporting sand from quarries in the dunes which is why the passenger carriages have curious underframes, they are the same as the ones under the sand tipplers.

 

Then there is one - of several - that will have to be considered "honorary narrow gauge", namely the tramway from Alkmaar to Bergen in North Holland. It was the seaside trippers traffic that kept this line going until the 1950s

 

 

One of the locos of this line was plinthed in Bergen for many years and then taken to Hoorn where it was rebuilt as a working engine and is today a star attraction of the Hoorn-Medemblik museum line

[Gareth Collier]

Hastings Miniature Railway still going strong along the seafront until Covid called a temporary halt. Not to be confused with the other Hastings Miniature Railway in Alexander Park in Hastings!

[PaulRhB]

18 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Lydd Ranges. definitely proper NG, rather than miniature, definitely at the seaside, but not exactly a "pleasure railway". http://wikimapia.org/7259034/Lydd-Ranges

 

The cheeky monkey who collated that has used photos that I know for definite that I took!

There were also narrow gauge range railways on the cliff tops at Kimmeridge and on Lulworth ranges. There were some bits of track still hanging out over the edge when I last walked it about ten years ago but they were disappearing with erosion. 

[Nearholmer]

There were quite a few very small/short, mostly non-loco, military railways along the south coast, aside from "the biggies" like Lydd; the early ones like Hurst Castle, plus much later, WW2 ones, used either as parts of gunnery ranges, or in some cases in connection with the creation of decoy targets for bombers. There was some of the latter in the Cuckmere Valley, where there was a complete night-time decoy version of Newhaven created using lights.

 

Just thought of the modern 2ft gauge line at Hayling, called the Hayling Seaside Railway, so it must count!

 

Were some of the Butlins railways close enough to the ocean to count as actual seaside railways, or do they count as "inland pleasure railways"?

[PatB]

There was, of course, the unnamed (AFAIK) 101/4" gauge line at Minehead, which looped around the outside of the model village (Little Britain, as I recall, decades before the TV series of that name). Memory tells me the entrance was off the seafront, so it was quite seaside. Not large or elaborate, but it did boast a Curwen Western as motive power, so somebody had been pretty serious about it. 

[phil_sutters]

Eastbourne's Miniature Steam Railway is some way inland, but still a seaside attraction and a very good one. A family concern, they build their own locos and stock. There is a small model railway display as well.

 

Hastings has a more traditional seafront railway.

 

Edited February 14, 2021 by phil_sutters

[phil_sutters]

Littlehampton's is also a trad type

 

 

 

A few more from the files. Newhaven's Paradise Park is a little way from the sea, but not that far.

Edited February 14, 2021 by phil_sutters
Additional photos

[Gareth Collier]

Sadly Brooklands Park alongside the beach in Worthing lost its miniature railway a couple of years ago as it didn't fit in with the councils future plans for the park.

[Tim V]

23 minutes ago, Gareth Collier said:

Sadly Brooklands Park alongside the beach in Worthing lost its miniature railway a couple of years ago as it didn't fit in with the councils future plans for the park.

A familiar story.

[Tim V]

Butlins 1962. So much that is history, I like the 'Senior Service' cigarette advertising on the food hall.

[Nearholmer]

Although miniature, as opposed to NG, railways are not really "my thing", this one deserves a mention, because its gauge was so large, at 18". It had a pretty big (one third or half full-size?) Sentinel 4W VBTG, but I can't find a picture of that on the internet. 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/trainsandstuff/19607960541

 

[whart57]

In the SW Netherlands the heritage railway dedicated to the RTM (Rotterdam Tramweg Maatschappij), the company that ran a large network of 3'6" gauge lines south of Rotterdam, has moved its operations away from one of the original locations to the holiday camp area of Port Zelande. The route it follows is entirely new and the location was chosen specifically to tap into the beach holiday market.

On the other hand, they operate with authentic and lovingly restored RTM stock. A unique hybrid of heritage railway and commercial enterprise I think.