Abbey Light Railway

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Abbey Light Railway
Engine shed on Bridge Road
Engine shed on Bridge Road
Route length: 1.2 km
Gauge : 610 mm ( 2 foot track )

The Abbey Light Railway (ALR) was a narrow-gauge railway with a track width of 2 feet (610 mm) in Kirkstall , Leeds , West Yorkshire , England . Built by railway enthusiasts, the route ran from Bridge Road near the local industrial park to the grounds of Kirkstall Abbey . It ran on Sundays and public holidays in the warm season.

history

Bridge over the Kirkstall Goit (2006, meanwhile dismantled)

In 1974, Peter Lowe, engineer and lecturer at Kitson College , Leeds, applied for permission to build a railway in Kirkstall. From 1976 the line was built from scratch by a group of railway enthusiasts, most of whom were members of the Ffestiniog Railway Association . Track material was acquired second-hand from the Ffestiniog Railway, and after a few years the line stretched ¾ mi (1.2 km) between Kirkstall Abbey and Bridge Road, Kirkstall. She crossed Kirkstall Goit, an artificial branch of the river Aire created as a mill ditch , on a bridge with brick abutments.

Initially, the line was operated purely privately, but in 1986 public transport permission was granted. This was carried out every Sunday from spring to autumn and on most bank holidays .

In 2006 an extension of the route to the Armley Mills Industrial Museum was planned. This would have required crossing the Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal . The project was not carried out.

After Peter Lowe died in October 2012 after a short illness, the business was closed. He was supposed to be resumed the following spring, but without the chief engineer it became difficult to obtain the necessary insurance. His widow was reluctant to sell the rolling stock and the infrastructure. Most of the locomotives and much of the rest of the material were sold to the Welsh Highland Railway in Porthmadog . The demolition work on the route began in February 2013.

Locomotives

The Abbey Light Railway had the following locomotives:

number Surname Built by design type Construction year Serial number Mission history
1 Loweco Lister 0-4-0PM 6HP 1942 20449 New to Kelby Sand and Gravel Co. Lincolnshire. Later at Hoe Hill Tile works, Barton-on-Humber . First ALR locomotive. Now situated in Poppleton Community Railway Nursery, York.
2 Atlas Hunslet 4wDM 20HP 1943 2465 New to Ministry of Defense, then to Strensall Brick and Tile Works, later to Alne Tile Works at Selby .
3 Odin Motor Rail 4wDM 20HP 1934 5859 Initially used as a rental locomotive, then to Ham River Grit Co. Ltd, later to Joseph Arnold & Sons, Leighton Buzzard . Now at Gelert's Farm Works (WHHR), Porthmadog.
4th Vulcan Ruston 4wDM 44 / 48HP 1942 198287 New to Harpur Hill, Buxton, then sold to the Royal Air Force at Burtonwood . Later bought by Yorkshire Water for use in Chellow Heights and Thornton Moor near Bradford. Repurchased by Yorkshire Water and now on the Bolton Abbey & Embsay Steam Railway.
5 Ruston and Hornsby 4wDM 20HP 1946 235654 New to Elsham Lime Co., sold to Barrow Haven Tile Works, Lincolnshire. Informally called Little Ruston at the ALR .
6th Druid Motor Rail 4wDM 20HP 1941 8644 New to Ministry of Defense. Sold to Alne Tile Works. Bought from the Creekmoor Light Railway in Poole . Largely rebuilt at ALR, only frame, wheels, gears and nameplate taken from the original. Now in Gelert's Farm.
7th Orenstein & Koppel 4wDM 11HP 1935 5926 New at Cape Universal Building Products Ltd., Uxbridge. Preserved in the Chalk Pits Museum, Amberley. Now in Gelert's Farm.
8th Robert Hudson Ltd 0-4-0 20HP 1924 39924 New to Lanarkshire county council, Cairngryffe Quarry near Biggar.
9 Muir Hill 0-4-0 20HP 1925 110 New to Meeth Clay Works, Devon; thence to RP Morris, Dartford, Kent. Now in Gelert's Farm.
10 Baguley 0-4-0 10HP 1917 736 New to War Department Light railways, then back to Baguley's, sold to Bristol Corporation water works, Blagdon reservoir. Now in Gelert's Farm.
11 Baguley 0-4-0 10HP 1917 760 New to APCM Ltd., Bidwell Clay pit, Dunstable, then to AJ Keefe, Aylesbury, then to RP Morris, Dartford.
12 George Greenbat 4wBE 1957 2848 New to Chemical and Insulating Co. Ltd, Faverdale, Darlington, thence to R. Stewart, North Yorkshire. Now with Ripon & District Light Railway (private railway).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d e Jonathan Brown: Miniature Leeds railway on the move . Yorkshire Post . February 19, 2013. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
  2. ^ Rolling stock - Abbey Light Railway .

literature

  • Thomas, Cliff: The Narrow Gauge in Britain & Ireland . Atlantic Publishers, 2002, ISBN 1-902827-05-8 .

Web links

Commons : Abbey Light Railway  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 53 ° 48'59 "  N , 1 ° 36'13"  W.