Blenheim Park Railway is a gauge miniature railway operating in the grounds of Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace  is a monumental country house situated in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, residence of the dukes of Marlborough. It is the only non-royal non-episcopal country house in England to hold the title of palace. The palace, one of England's largest houses, was built between...

, in Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

History

The railway opened in 1975 as a tourist attraction within 'The Pleasure Gardens', an area of visitor facilities inside the grounds of the Palace, but some distance from the house itself. Miniature railway operating company 'Pleasurerail' operated the service on a short out-and-back line. There were no passing loop

Passing loop

A passing loop is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at a station, where trains or trams in opposing directions can pass each other. Trains/trams in the same direction can also overtake, providing that the signalling arrangement allows it...

s or run-round loops, so the line was push-pull operated. The original locomotive was named 'Sir Winston Churchill' (not to be confused with the current locomotive of the same name), and was later joined by locomotives 'Muffin' and 'Tracy-Jo'.

Later Development

The facilities at The Pleasure Gardens include a maze, a plant centre, a cafeteria, the popular butterfly house, and the main car park for visitors. The railway was adapted to provide an actual transport facility between the Pleasure Gardens and Blenheim Palace itself, and during the tourist season trains run in each direction every half hour. The line is now an end-to-end operation laid out roughly in the shape of a figure '7', and extending over a distance of 1000 yards (914.4 m). There are run-round loops at each terminal station, and there was a central passing loop allowing the operation of two trains. This loop has now had one set of points removed, thus changing it into a siding. The line also has a three-road engine and stock storage shed.

Rolling stock

The passenger carriages are 16-seat semi-open vehicles, painted dark green, with canvas canopy type roofs. A train is usually formed of three or four such coaches. Two locomotives are based on the renewed Blenheim Park Railway, as shown below.

Locomotive Name	Locomotive Type	Year of Building	Builder	In service?	Notes
Anna	4-6wDM	1960	Guest (G&SLE)	Yes	Diesel outline, painted green, reserve engine.
Sir Winston Churchill	0-6-2 DH	1992	Alan Keef	Yes	Steam outline, painted red, principle engine.