Hello and welcome to "narrow gauge & ON30". Bonjour et bienvenue "à voie étroite et ON30". Hallo und herzlich willkommen auf "Schmalspur & On30". Hallo en welkom op "smalspoor & On30". Witam i zapraszam na "wąskotorowe i ON30 您好,欢迎来到“窄尺和ON30”。 こんにちは、 "狭いゲージ&ON30"へようこそ。
SITE UPDATES
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2023 JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE THE COVID 19 SITUATION HIT HOME AND NO RAILWAY VISITS WERE MADE AT ALL DURING 2020 AND DURING 2021 , THINGS WERE NOT THAT MUCH BETTER . 2022 WAS A VERY QUIET YEAR , WITH JUST A COUPLE OF VISITS , ONE BEING A RETURN VISIT TO THE EAST ANGLIAN TRANSPORT MUSEUM . 2023 , HAPPILY A FEW VISITS HAVE BEEN MADE ON A SHORT 6 DAY BREAK IN THE WEST COUNTRY , WHICH INCLUDED VISITS TO TRAGO MILLS , SEATON TRAMWAY , WESTONZOYLAND PUMPING STATION , GARTELL RAILWAY , LAUNCESTON RAILWAY , HOPEWELL COLLIERY AND EVESHAM VALE . WITH MY OWN HEALTH AND MOBILITY FAR FROM PERFECT THANKS GO OUT TO OUR ANDREW , WITHOUT WHOM NON OF THE VISITS WOULD HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE , AND THE USE OF MY DISABLED BUGGY AND WHEEL CHAIR . FINANCES ARE STILL POOR , FUEL PRICES ARE STUPID AND SADLY THIS REFLECTS IN A LOT OF THE PRICES TO VISIT ALL ATRACTIONS INCLUDING RAILWAYS .
PLEASE STAY SAFE AND WELL EVERYONE .
SEPTEMBER UPDATES 2023 A NEW PAGE ADDED FOR A VISIT TO THE BICKINGTON STEAM RLY , TRAGO MILLS SHOPPING COMPLEX DEVON WITH 117 PHOTO'S . 40 PHOTO'S ADDED TO THE EAST ANGLIAN TRANSPORT MUSEUM PAGE [ FROM 2022 VISIT ]. 59 PHOTO'S ADDED TO THE EVESHAM VALE LIGHT RAILWAY PAGE . A NEW PAGE ADDED FOR THE GARTELL LIGHT RAILWAY WITH 172 PHOTO'S . A NEW PAGE ADDED FOR HOPEWELL COLLIERY WITH 29 PHOTO'S . A NEW PAGE ADDED FOR THE LAUNCESTON STEAM RAILWAY WITH 202 PHOTO'S . 26 PHOTO'S ADDED TO THE PLEASLEY PIT TRUST PAGE [ FROM 2022 VISIT ] A NEW PAGE ADDED FOR SEATON TRAMWAYS WITH 128 PHOTO'S . A NEW PAGE ADDED FOR WESTONZOYLAND PUMPING STATION WITH 76 PHOTO'S.
2024 diary dates
Even if we are not attending these events, I will try to keep the listing up to date with the events happening in 2024.
2024 events.
ABOUT US
I was born in 1962 and had a life long interest in railways , both real and model. I probably had my first "train " rides on the miniature railways at Ingoldmells , Skegness and Mablethorpe . The poor photo above is a early 1960's photo of myself sitting on the miniature railway at Ingoldmells. Another railway close by, but never visited was at the Butlins Skegness site. Other early small railways that I rode on would include the miniature Dormans Atlantic railway and the late Teddy Boston's narrow gauge, with locomotive "Pixie ", both of which were present at a lot of the local East Midlands area traction engine rallies that we visited.
My first ride on a fixed narrow gauge system must have been the visits we made to Alton Towers in the 1960's, a long time before the now famous amusment park that it is today. Below is a link that i came across , which contains some excellent photo,s of the railway , which closed to passengers at the end of 1996. http://altontowersmemories.net/page8.htm As far as i remember , i think my first real contact which sparked my interest in narrow gauge was the family holidays to Humberstone, near Cleethorpes. About 20 yards away from the caravan we used to stay in was the now sadly closed and moved Lincolnshire coast light railway [see L.C.L.R. page] and many rides were taken on this great little railway.
Our Andrew was born in 2001 and was just 10 days old when he rode on his first steam train at the Buckinghamshire railway centre. As with most kids he has grown up watching Thomas the tank engine and playing with Thomas toys. He loves going to railways and his favorite is the Baie de Somme in France, which we try to visit , when possible. I am also a member of the Moseley railway trust. The photo shows Andrew [ then aged 6 ] riding on the Baie de Somme for the first time.
Roger & Andrew , Nottinghamshire , England..
should you wish to contact us, our email is enginefinderuk at msn.com [ replace at with @ and close the gaps ]
Pictured below with " Irish Mail ", is our 1960 Ford Popular 100e , fitted with a side valve engine and 3 speed gearbox. she was our regular transport for a lot of our day trips prior to mid 2013. Below that is our "newer" motor , our 1964 Austin Cambridge A60 , which had taken over and longer distance runs were a little faster. If you click on the photographs below, they will take you to a photo page for the Pop or the Cambridge.
Photo's of the month SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2023 .
[ABOVE] HAPPY TO SAY WE SPENT A FEW DAYS IN SOMERSET , DEVON , AND CORNWALL IN AUGUST 2023 ,WITH FIRST TIME VISITS TO A FEW NEW RAILWAYS INCLUDING THE 10 1/4 INCH GAUGE BICKINGTON STEAM RAILWAY AT TRAGO MILLS . THIS WAS THE FIRST OF THE DAYS OUT , AND KIND OF SET THE MOOD FOR THE REST , WITH RAIN ON ALL BUT ONE DAY OUT ! NOTICE ON THE PHOTO BELOW , A STOP HAD BEEN MADE OUTSIDE THE LOCO SHED AND A NICE TENDER CAB WAS NOW FITTED .
[ BELOW ]
Current narrow gauge railway location map
The location of operating passenger carrying narrow gauge and miniature railways in the British Isles and Ireland with a gauge between and including 12" to 4' 6". Many thank's to Rik Bennett , for taking the time and the effort to produce the maps and for allowing me permission to use them on the website , for myself and others to use and enjoy..
Closed n.g. passenger carrying systems map
In the second of Rik's maps he is trying to list all of the closed passenger carrying lines, with the routes of these former lines mapped out.
Please click on either map to see a larger searchable map in a seperate page.
Narrow gauge net , online magazine.
Narrow Gauge Net aims to be the website of choice for the UK narrow gauge railway scene. Our free-to-download magazine is published at the beginning of every month, packed with all the latest news and event details. http://www.narrowgaugenet.co.uk/index.php
uk loco search
This is a fantastic site i came across and the info contained is brilliant ! You can use it to search for loco's by maker or 10 other searches including location,gauge and county. Use it to check out which locos are at the railway you plan to visit next. http://www.uklocos.com/
N.L.R. wagon works Shirebrook
Quility built wagon's and coaches available ready to run at the right price. A number of different types are available , built to order. The E.V.L.R. has 3 bogie pipe wagon's and a brakevan, and can really highly recommend the models and friendley service. Please contact Dale at dalega[ at ]tiscali.co.uk - insert @ for at. or check out ebay seller dalega69 Below are some of the wagons sold to date .
ON30 buildings made to order
I am pleased to be able to link to the site of the scratchbuilder of the buildings that feature on Timber Creek and will feature on the future Golden Valley railroad. Bill Bramley makes ON30 Scratch built buildings, also known as 7mm scale or O gauge. These buildings are hand made by Bill and consist of wood, hardboard, mdf and various thickness cardboard. Lights may also be incorperated, these being cold running Led's run off a seperate 12v regulated dc supply, suitable resistors are fitted as standard.Buildings are painted as required and weathered to give a more natural look. Buildings are made or designed to your specifications and a overall footprint size must be given as well as a maximum height measurement. Ideally, a decent detailed photo should be supplied to give Bill an idea of what you require. Please remember all items are scratch built, made to order and depending on work load, time scale for completion may slip over the usual 7 to 12 days, however, email contact will be maintained, keeping client informed of progress or delays. For more information, please contact Bill , at email address, [email protected] or visit his website at http://bramwood1.weebly.com/
Timber Creek
Timber Creek is an ON30 ongoing layout being built by Ray Dolman on which all the buildings and tree's are scratch built. The original idea was for a working diorama and the On30 gauge was first choice as Ray had already done the OO gauge and N gauge thing and like myself, had come across the great on30 Bachmann Locomotives. On Timber Creek the Shay's are DCC controlled and are fitted with simple three function decoders and a simple Bachmann EZ controller is used.