Fancott Miniature Railway
The Fancott Miniature Railway (FMR)[1] is a 7 1⁄4 in (184 mm) gauge railway located in the gardens of the Fancott public house[2] in Fancott (near Toddington), Bedfordshire, England. The track is laid in an oval with a triangular junction giving access to the station and with a separate steaming bay inside the oval. The FMR is part of Britain's Great Little Railways.[3]
| Fancott Miniature Railway | |
|---|---|
| 'FMR' | |
| Locale | Fancott, Bedfordshire |
| Terminus | Fancott Station |
| Coordinates | 51.939982°N 0.513032°W |
 | |
| Connections | None |
| Commercial operations | |
| Name | Fancott Miniature Railway |
| Original gauge | 7 1⁄4 in (184 mm) |
| Preserved operations | |
| Stations | One, the terminus. |
| Length | 1,000 yards (914 m) |
| Commercial history | |
| Opened | 1975 |
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History
| 1975 | The original 10 1⁄4 in (260 mm) gauge Fancott Light Railway was opened. The railway was operated by Mr E Harper. |
| 1986 | The original line closed. |
| 1996 | A new railway was opened by Alexander James Wallman, the son of the pubs owner. A 7 1⁄4 in (184 mm) railway was laid and operated by a Mr R Bennet and the resident locomotive at this time was an 0-4-0 Romulus Ffreddy (which left in 2001). |
| 2000 | The railway was taken over by Mr R Stanbridge, who ran it with his son Matthew. |
| 2001 | The railway was removed once again. A new railway was to be laid and new engine sheds constructed, to be completed by early 2002. The engine shed and track bed was almost completed by the end of October 2001. |
| 2002 | 1,000 yards of track was hand-built and points constructed in Bristol. 200 tons of 14mm stone was delivered, track beds and drainage were done and a level crossing was built for extra parking space. |
| 2003 | A steel foot bridge was installed to allow people over the railway. By this time the entire railway had been fenced off. |
| 2005 | The extra car park was closed and plans for a steaming bay and signal box were made. |
| 2007 | A point motor was added allowing the railway to run clockwise for the first time in seven years. Staff at this time were Ron the Manager, and his crew Jim, Jack and Amy, with Matt helping out from time to time. |
| 2008 | Amy left the railway to pursue other goals; Ron then took on his youngest son Ashley.[4] This year also saw the introduction of full aspect colour lights on the FMR to be used when running multiple trains. |
| 2009 | The railway is currently a huge success, thanks to the devoted manager Ron Stanbridge with help from the crew and of course Paul and Janet Wallman the Pub owners. 2009 also introduced a new concept to the Fancott, with customers being able to book the railway. |
| 2010 | A new loop line has been installed so that both platforms 1 and 2 can be access when arriving in the station. |
| 2015 | On 3 March a fire breaks out destroying pub outbuildings, the railway shed, locomotives and carriages.[5] The railway reopened 4 July running with a borrowed locomotive (Nipa) and carriages from Swanley and Newbarn Railway. The locomotive and carriage sheds were rebuilt and all new track laid where the fire had spread. A second locomotive (Dark Star) was bought shortly after the fire. |
| 2019 | After 19 years without a resident steam locomotive, a 0-4-0 saddle tank named "Davanna" was bought by the railway ready for the 2019 running season. A new signal box was constructed, and named "Victoria Signal Box". A team named "the Fancott Miniature Marvels", composed of Ron, Matt, Stevie, Marisol, Charlie, and Adam (from the Riverside Miniature Railway), took part in the Great Model Railway Challenge 2019. The Sunday after the GMRC was shown on Channel 5, the railway had around 200 passengers in one afternoon. |
Locomotives
| No.1 "Herbie" | Built by Severn Lamb in 1984 (Build No. 1023) with a Honda look-a-like engine providing 6.6HP the engine arrived in 2002 from Southall Light Railway. Herbie was rebuilt in 2016 by Mr D Radcliffe after a fire broke out at the railway destroying Herbie along with the rest of the locomotives at the railway, Herbie returned to traffic March 20th 2017. |
| No.3 "The Phoenix" | Built by members of the Cinderbarrow Miniature Railway in 2007 it contains a 6.6HP engine. Originally named ‘Tregoss’ the locomotive was renamed in November 2015 when it joined the railway to its current name of ‘Phoenix’. |
| No.4 "Davanna" | |
| No.D7031 "Dark Star" | Build by Mardyke Miniature Railways in 1989 with a Brigg & Stratton 6.6HP engine, ‘Dark Star’ was originally named ‘Temeraire’. The locomotive arrived at the railway on the 8th July 2015 from its previous owners Mr C Gross who undertook the massive task of restoring the locomotive. Since being purchased by the railway, ‘Dark Star’ is now owned by Ron Stanbridge, manager of the railway. |
References
External links
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