Alderney Railway
Encyclopedia
The Alderney Railway in Alderney
is the only working railway in the Channel Islands
. It opened in 1847 and runs for about two miles (3 km), mostly following a coastal route, from Braye Road to Mannez Quarry and Lighthouse
.
The railway is run by volunteers and usually operates during summer weekends and bank holidays.
The current stock is former London Underground
1959 Tube Stock
cars nos. 1044 and 1045, a Vulcan Drewry
0-4-0
diesel locomotive
no. D100 'Elizabeth', a Ruston & Hornsby
0-4-0 diesel 'Molly II' and six Wickham rail cars. 'Molly II' is currently awaiting modification to her coupler system, so she can haul the London Underground stock. However, this cannot happen at the moment due to the fact she is not yet owned by the Alderney Railway company.
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This company took over the railway in 1923, together with locomotives No.1 and No.2. No.1 was returned to England and replaced by Manning Wardle
0-6-0ST "Nitro".
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No.2 and "Nitro" were commandeered by the Germans and are believed to have been shipped to Cherbourg in 1943 or 1944. The Germans lifted part of the standard gauge line and replaced it with a metre gauge line, worked by two Feldbahn
0-4-0 diesel locomotive
s.
----
The line was restored to standard gauge in 1947-1949 and the following stock was used:
----
and the Victorian
forts.
Alderney
Alderney is the most northerly of the Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. It is long and wide. The area is , making it the third-largest island of the Channel Islands, and the second largest in the Bailiwick...
is the only working railway in the Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
. It opened in 1847 and runs for about two miles (3 km), mostly following a coastal route, from Braye Road to Mannez Quarry and Lighthouse
Alderney Lighthouse
The Alderney Lighthouse is a stone lighthouse built on the North-East coast of the island of Alderney. It was constructed in 1912 to protect shipping from the dangerous waters of the Alderney Race and the numerous rocks surrounding Alderney.-History:The Alderney Lighthouse was constructed from...
.
The railway is run by volunteers and usually operates during summer weekends and bank holidays.
Stations
- Mannez QuarryMannez Quarry railway stationMannez Quarry is a station on the Alderney Railway, in the island of Alderney.-External links:*...
- Braye RoadBraye Road railway stationBraye Road is a station on the Alderney Railway, in the island of Alderney; it runs along Braye Harbour-External links:*...
Current
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
1959 Tube Stock
London Underground 1959 Stock
The 1959 Tube Stock was a type of London Underground tube train constructed in the late 1950s. They were intended for use on the Piccadilly line, but also saw use on several other tube lines...
cars nos. 1044 and 1045, a Vulcan Drewry
Drewry Car Co.
Drewry Car Co, strictly speaking, was a railway locomotive and railcar sales organisation for most of its life. Only at the start and the end of its life did it build its own products, relying on sub-contractors for the rest of its time...
0-4-0
0-4-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-4-0 represents one of the simplest possible types, that with two axles and four coupled wheels, all of which are driven...
diesel locomotive
Diesel locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...
no. D100 'Elizabeth', a Ruston & Hornsby
Ruston (engine builder)
Ruston & Hornsby, later known as Ruston, was an industrial equipment manufacturer in Lincoln, England, the company's history going back to 1840. The company is best known as a manufacturer of narrow and standard gauge diesel locomotives and also of steam shovels. Other products included cars, steam...
0-4-0 diesel 'Molly II' and six Wickham rail cars. 'Molly II' is currently awaiting modification to her coupler system, so she can haul the London Underground stock. However, this cannot happen at the moment due to the fact she is not yet owned by the Alderney Railway company.
Past
- British Admiralty, 1854-1923. (The railway was, presumably, owned by some other department of the British Government from 1847-1854).
| Name | Date built | Builder | Works No. | Wheels | Cylinders | Notes | Withdrawn |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Veteran | 1847 | ? | ? | 0-4-0 | Inside | arr. 1847 | ? |
| Fairfield | 1847 | ? | ? | 0-4-0 | Inside | arr. 1847 | ? |
| Waverley | ? | ? | ? | 0-4-0 | Outside | - | 1889 |
| Bee | ? | ? | ? | 0-6-0T | ? | - | ? |
| Spider | ? | ? | ? | 0-6-0T | ? | - | ? |
| Gillingham | ? | Aveling and Porter Aveling and Porter Aveling and Porter was a British agricultural engine and steam roller manufacturer. Thomas Aveling and Richard Thomas Porter entered into partnership in 1862, developed a steam engine three years later in 1865 and produced more steam rollers than all the other British manufacturers combined.-The... |
? | 0-6-0TG | ? | arr. 1893 | 1893 |
| No.1 | 1880 | Hunslet Hunslet Engine Company The Hunslet Engine Company is a British locomotive-building company founded in 1864 at Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England by John Towlerton Leather, a civil engineering contractor, who appointed James Campbell as his Works Manager.In 1871, James Campbell bought the company for... |
231 | 0-6-0ST | Inside | arr. 1893 | 1923 |
| No.2 | 1898 | Peckett Peckett and Sons Peckett and Sons was a locomotive manufacturer at the Atlas Works in St. George, Bristol, England.-Fox, Walker and Company:The company began trading in 1864 at the Atlas Engine Works, St. George, Bristol, as Fox, Walker and Company, building four and six-coupled saddle tank engines for industrial use... |
696 | 0-4-0ST | Outside | arr. 1904 | 1923 |
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- Channel Islands Granite Co Ltd, 1923-1940.
This company took over the railway in 1923, together with locomotives No.1 and No.2. No.1 was returned to England and replaced by Manning Wardle
Manning Wardle
Manning Wardle was a steam locomotive manufacturer based in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.- Precursor companies :The city of Leeds was one of the earliest centres of locomotive building; Matthew Murray built the first commercially successful steam locomotive, Salamanca, in Holbeck, Leeds,...
0-6-0ST "Nitro".
----
- German occupation, 1940-1945
No.2 and "Nitro" were commandeered by the Germans and are believed to have been shipped to Cherbourg in 1943 or 1944. The Germans lifted part of the standard gauge line and replaced it with a metre gauge line, worked by two Feldbahn
Feldbahn
A Feldbahn is the German term for a narrow gauge railway, usually not open to the public, which in its simplest form provides for the transportation of agricultural, forestry and industrial raw materials such as wood, peat, stone, earth and sand...
0-4-0 diesel locomotive
Diesel locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...
s.
----
- British Home Office, 1945-?
The line was restored to standard gauge in 1947-1949 and the following stock was used:
- SentinelSentinel Waggon WorksSentinel Waggon Works Ltd was a British company based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire that made steam-powered lorries, railway locomotives, and later, diesel engined lorries and locomotives.-Alley & MacLellan, Sentinel Works, Jessie Street Glasgow:...
4wVBT "Molly", in service from 1947, withdrawn 1958. May have been converted to a mobile sand-blaster, which was still extant in 1980. - Cowans SheldonClarke ChapmanClarke Chapman is a British engineering firm based in Gateshead, which was formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange.-History:The company was founded in 1864 in Gateshead by William Clarke...
steam craneSteam craneA steam crane is a crane powered by a steam engine. It may be fixed or mobile and, if mobile, it may run on rail tracks, caterpillar tracks, road wheels, or be mounted on a barge... - Ruston & Hornsby 0-4-0 diesel "Molly II"
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- Alderney Railway Co Ltd, 1980 onwards
- Bagnall 0-4-0ST “J.T. Daly", in service 1982, now (2007) at the Pallot Heritage Steam MuseumPallot Heritage Steam MuseumThe Pallot Heritage Steam Museum is a mechanical heritage museum in the Parish of Trinity in Jersey.-Don Pallot:The museum was founded by Lyndon Charles Pallot, , who was born in Trinity and educated at the parish school...
, JerseyJerseyJersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
- Bagnall 0-4-0ST “J.T. Daly", in service 1982, now (2007) at the Pallot Heritage Steam Museum
- Notes
- arr. = date arrived on Alderney
- T = tank locomotiveTank locomotiveA tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of pulling it behind it in a tender. It will most likely also have some kind of bunker to hold the fuel. There are several different types of tank locomotive dependent upon...
- ST = saddle tank locomotive
- TG = geared tank locomotive
- VBT = vertical boilerVertical boilerA vertical boiler is a type of fire-tube or water-tube boiler where the boiler barrel is oriented vertically instead of the more common horizontal orientation...
tank locomotive
History
The railway was built by the British Government in the 1840s and opened in 1847. Its original purpose was to carry stone from the eastern end of the island to build the breakwaterBreakwater (structure)
Breakwaters are structures constructed on coasts as part of coastal defence or to protect an anchorage from the effects of weather and longshore drift.-Purposes of breakwaters:...
and the Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
forts.
External links
- Alderney Railway official website (Warning - locomotive horn sounds on opening!)
- A fan's website
- Photographs of Channel Islands railways (including Alderney)