Bickington Steam Railway
Map with all coordinates: | Bickington Steam Railway | |
|---|---|
 North Pole Express
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| Route length: | 3.2 km |
| Gauge : | 260 mm |
The Bickington Steam Railway at Trago Mills Shopping Center in Newton Abbot is a passenger park railway with a gauge of 260 mm (10¼ inches ).
history
The Bickington Steam Railway entered service in 1988 with vehicles and tracks previously used in Suffolk Wildlife Park and even earlier on Rudyard Lake .
It was built by Brian Nicholson, the principal of Waterhouses School in Staffordshire. Waterhouses was the transfer station to the Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway . After his plans to rebuild part of the Leek and Manifold Valley Railway were foiled, Nicholson relocated his railroad at Trago Mills.
Originally it was a 1.6 km double loop around two lakes with a 'Trago Central' train station, but in 2006 the route was extended by 800 m to the front of Trago Mills. A three-track terminus station with a turntable was built and was named 'Riverside Station'. A third station, 'Goose Glen Halt', was built in 2008 at the far end of the Trago Mills site, on one of the railway's original tracks.
In one section of the route, the railway climbs a steep hill with the greatest gradient of an adhesion railway, i.e. a railway without a rack in Great Britain. The railway system is a member of Britains Great Little Railways .
Locomotives
| No. | Surname | Wheel alignment | Manufacturer | Construction year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ER Calthrop | 2-6-4T | Coleby Simkins | 1974 |
| 750 | Blanche of Lancaster | 4-4-2 | D. Curwen | 1948 |
| Alice | 2-6-0 | Simkins & Vere | 1984 | |
| D5910 | 4w-4wDH | D. Nicholson | 1987 | |
| 24 | Sandy River | 2-6-2 | Coleby Simkins / Allcock / Vere | 1991 |
Brian Nicholson built the No. 1 ER Calthrope locomotive himself from plans by the original ER Calthorp , which was built by Kitson & Co. of Leeds for the Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bickington Steam Railway 10 ¼ inch . Miniature Railway World. Retrieved January 16, 2013.