RHYL MINIATURE RAILWAY: A HISTORY IN WORDS
Background and Construction of the Railway
The Rhyl Miniature Railway was the last to be
built by Miniature Railways of Great Britain Ltd. The company had been founded in
1904, with W. J. Bassett-Lowke as Managing Director,
and Henry Greenly as Engineer. Greenly designed its ‘Little Giant’ 4-4-2 locomotives, and the first railway opened at
The route which Greenly laid out was almost
one mile in length, right around the lake. That is still the railway today,
although some alignments have changed. The circular track made operation easy,
and the steepest gradient was only 1 in 220. Its station was built next to the
site entrance in the north east corner, featuring an ornate wooden building to Greenly’s design. To operate the railway a standard ‘Little
Giant’ locomotive was provided, named Prince Edward of
There was a good season at Rhyl in 1911, and
the railway quickly became a showpiece for friends and customers of Greenly and
Bassett-Lowke. So much so that special footplate
passes had to be issued at a cost of 1/- for adults and 6d for children!
Prosperity in the hands of Albert Barnes and Rhyl Amusements Ltd, 1912 –
1969
In 1912, Greenly and Bassett-Lowke moved on to fresh 15in projects, the first being a
new railway in
A second Class 10 ‘Little Giant’ locomotive
named George the Fifth was purchased from Llewelyn’s
Miniature Railway at
On leaving the station, trains now entered a
long tunnel which carried the railway underneath an enormous roller coaster. It
was also useful as a carriage shed out of season! The tiny locomotive shed was
replaced first by a two-road building with an inspection pit, then in the 1930s
by a still bigger shed adjacent to the
All these changes left the locomotives
basically still of Greenly’s original 1905 design.
Although adequate, they were stretched to the limit during the peak seasons,
when two trains were always needed. So Barnes contacted Greenly to see what
could be done. The result was the ‘
Bassett-Lowke had
already produced two enlarged versions of the ‘Little Giant’, the Class 20 and
the Class 30, but the ‘
By this time, Barnes was already applying his
fairground know-how commercially, building rides like the ‘Cake Walk’ for other
sites besides Rhyl. At its peak, just, after the First World War, Albert Barnes
& Co employed 100 men building fairground equipment, as well as handling
structural steel contracts along the
By April 1921, the third locomotive was
nearly complete, the remainder being finished at 12 or 18 month intervals. They
were named after the children of Mr Butler, the owner of Rhyl Amusements.
The older Bassett-Lowke
locomotives were quickly sold. Prince Edward of
Two of the Barnes locomotives were also sold.
Michael went to the Woodland Park Miniature Railway, a short-lived line beside
the shore of the Isle of Grain, across the water from
Meanwhile, the fourth engine, Billie, joined
Prince Edward of
Early in the 1930s, the Rhyl Miniature
Railway settled down to years of successful if unspectacular operation, using
the four locomotives, Nos 101/3/5/6. During the
season two would be in use, the third spare and the fourth perhaps in the works
for overhaul. After World War 2, both the station and the locomotive shed were
again rebuilt, this time in concrete.
From the 1920s Rhyl Amusements had developed
a second funfair located between the promenade and the
It all came to an end in 1969. Rhyl
Amusements was by then a subsidiary of Trust House Forte Leisure Ltd, whereas
the
1970 – 1977
The railway equipment all went into store,
save for Joan, which was sent to help out on the railway at Belle Vue Zoo, Manchester; by then also owned by Trust House.
Faced with an empty site, Rhuddlan Borough Council
tried to put some life back into the Marine Lake. A new building arrived topped
by a long kiddies’ slide, and boating rides were also reinstated.
In September 1977 Belle Vue
Zoo closed, and Joan pulled the last train on the railway. Trust House had no
further use for miniature railways. and during 1978 began selling the
equipment. First to go was No 105 Michael to Alan Keef
Ltd. a firm of light railway engineers based at Cote, Oxon. The Hon W. H. McAlpine considered buying No 101 Joan and, under his
auspices, the engine made brief appearances at Blenheim Palace, on a portable
line at Newcastle Town Moor, and then at Steamtown, Carnforth. In the event, though, he decided against
purchase, and Joan was sent back to store.
It was decided to overhaul two of the
locomotives completely, and John and Billy were chosen. One employee returned from
retirement to assist with the work, which included fitting new boilers to each.
John was then purchased by John Broome of Alton Towers, Staffs. However, plans
to operate it there were never realised, and John was placed on static display.
It was resold in 1985 to Raymond Dunn of Whorlton
Lido, Co Durham, and then in 1996 to David Hibbert,
who kept it at Ravenglass. In 2000 it was acquired by
Jim and Helen Shackell, and it is now destined to
operate on their new railway at Evesham.
The present railway, from 1978
Back at Rhyl, the first proposals that the
railway should be restored were made in 1977, and the Council seemed to
approve. The new track would be Council property, and let out to operators on a
normal concession basis. Alan Keef Ltd agreed to act
as engineers and a new company was formed to operate the line, so tracklaying began. To haul the trains Michael was purchased
from Rhyl Amusements and, in addition, Clara, an 0-4-2 steam outline diesel
locomotive, was provided, ex Dudley Zoo. Michael returned to Rhyl on 1 July
1978, and trains started running immediately. The Rhyl Miniature Railway was
back in business.
Across the road from the lake, No 106 Billy
remained unsold, so it was sent for auction at Sotheby’s, Belgravia
on 6 October 1978. When Rhyl Town Council heard about this, its members were
seized with dismay that such an item of Rhyl’s
heritage should be leaving the town, so they bought Billy at the auction for
£9,000. A special ‘Billy the Engine’ sub-committee was formed to safeguard the
new asset! At first, No 106 was displayed in Rhyl Town Hall but, from Easter
1979, the Town Council allowed it back to the Marine Lake railway, providing it
was on a limited number of days.
In 1980, events moved fast. The railway
concession was assigned to a partnership led by local businessman Les Hughes.
He really caught ‘bug’ for the trains that summer. Michael and Clara were
bought from Keef Railways Ltd, and then Joan and
Railway Queen (No 102) from Trust House. Not content with that, Les Hughes
heard that Dreamland Railway at Margate might be for sale, so bought that as
well, including No 104 Billie. Thus it was that No 104 returned to Rhyl after
more than 50 years absence. Only No 103 John eluded Les because at the time
John Broome would not part with it.
In fact, the great Barnes reunion was all
that it seemed. Neither Joan nor Railway Queen were fit for service, and they
simply moved from one store to another. An enthusiast from the Mold area offered to overhaul one of the locomotives for
nothing, providing that the owners paid for materials; and Billie the Margate
engine was in his garage before he could change his mind. Michael, although
operational, left much to be desired mechanically. This left the Town Council’s
engine Billy, which operated the Rhyl line on its own throughout the main
season of 1981.
In mid-1981 a link was made with one Stan
Jackson, a showman who operated several rides at Dudley Zoo. The Dudley Zoo
Railway itself has a long history, dating from 1938. But in the 1970s it had
become run down, then finally closed, and the track lifted beyond the zoo
perimeter. Michael and the diesel Clara were sent to revive the railway, and
the former ran a short season there from August 1981.
Still greater plans were made for 1982. Over
the winter a firm in Flint began a major overhaul of Railway Queen, but then
promptly went into liquidation. Les Hughes had to hire a workshop of his own in
order to get the work finished. At Dudley the railway was extended by 200yd or
so. No 104 emerged from its overhaul in April 1982 and was sent to relieve the
ailing Michael at Dudley Zoo. At Rhyl, the Town Council retrieved Billy in
mid-1982, and it went to store initially in the old town hall. Subsequently it
has been overhauled by a firm in Derby, and the locomotive is currently stored
awaiting a location for public display. That left Railway Queen, which had been
reassembled in rather a hurry, but a new driver did much to nurse her through
that season.
Ken Dove’s father Ernest used to build 7¼in and
l0¼in gauge locomotives at their home in Nottingham in the 1940s, and since
then Ken had built and operated a number of different l0¼in gauge lines. He
brought a lifetime’s experience of miniature railways with him to Rhyl. After
the season closed, he set about Railway Queen which was restyled, carrying a
black livery with curved splashers, but no name. It
became a powerful and reliable hauler, running throughout 1983. This year also
saw steam trains at the Dudley Zoo Railway, which passed on to a new operator
for 1984.
Back at Rhyl, Ken Dove now had a firm grip on
things. In winter 1983-84 he worked on Joan, then in the next year Michael was
brought back to first-class order. All the more commendable when you consider
that this was achieved by one man working without mains power in a dingy shed.
Every bit of machining had to be done at friendly premises around the town. The
reward came on steam test day 1985 when all three locomotives were running
around the track; the first time that had been possible since the 1960s.
Unfortunately this progress was marred by a dispute with the Council, which led
to the railway lying unused during 1986.
Further uncertainty was caused when the news
came that Nos 101/2/4/5 were to be auctioned. A large
audience gathered at Sotheby’s Saltney saleroom,
Chester on 30 April 1986 to find out what would happen to the engines. However,
although bidding reached £18,000 for one of the Atlantics, the reserve was
higher and offers to purchase were turned down. The sale was caused by financial
pressures which were subsequently eased by other means.
The impasse with the Council was solved in
1987 when Ken Dove took charge of the situation as operator of the railway,
hiring the rolling stock from Les Hughes. From this point onwards Clara became
the principal motive power on the railway. Ken selected Joan as his preferred
steam locomotive because of her fuel economy in operation, however her boiler
certificate ran out leading to the use of Railway Queen during 1988 and 1989,
although carrying splashers and name plates from
Michael! During Winter 1989-1990 Joan and the real Michael were retubed and Joan has worked all but a few of the steam days
since then.
During 1987 and 1988 trains only ran for an
eight week season during July and August, but since then operations have fallen
into a pattern of all Bank Holiday Sundays and Mondays, Sundays in June, then 6
days a week (not Saturdays) in the summer school holidays, followed by one or
two September Sundays. We generally steam up on Sundays, Bank Holidays, and
peak Thursdays (market days) from 1pm. All these dates of operation are weather
permitting.
The Dudley Zoo railway closed at the end of
the 1992 season, and its unusual diesel electric railcar set was purchased by
Les Hughes for operation at Rhyl, under the banner ‘old and the new’. Although
a bit over-complicated it did some good service with us in North Wales. 104,
the Margate engine, never worked any public trains at Rhyl and departed in June
1993 to a private owner in Kent.
In May 1994 Ken Dove died, having suffered
two years of bad health. Although rarely the enthusiast’s friend his
contribution to the railway had been immense and we still miss him. From 1994
to 2000 Les Hughes operated the railway, along with a volunteer group, under a
lease concession from what is now Denbighshire County Council, as well as
owning the rolling stock and track, under the banner of Rhyl Steam Preservation
Society.
Railway Queen and Michael were moved in
Spring 1994 to James Pringle Weavers’ shop at Llanfair P.G., Anglesey, where
they stand on static display in this railway-themed clothing store. Although
they lie still, they can at least be appreciated by the visiting public, unlike
the years they spent hidden away in the shed at Rhyl.
Clara received a new
Following the tank scheme we gained access
back to the site in November 1998. Various works were then undertaken to enable
trains to run again from Easter 1999. The railway has certainly benefited in
some ways from tank scheme, with almost half of the track being re-laid.
In 2001 operation of the line was taken over
by Rhyl Steam Preservation Trust; on 5th May the railway celebrated
the ninetieth anniversary of its opening. Joan double headed trains all day
with John, which visited us for the day courtesy of its owners Jim and Helen Shackell. This was the first time for thirty years that two
of the Barnes Locomotives had been in steam together. Also operating trains was
0-4-0T Effie from the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway.
During the Spring of 2002 the KD1 multiple
unit left us for new owners in the West Country. Since 2001 further heritage
equipment has been acquired privately for the railway: a 4w Lister diesel, a
4-4-0 Cagney steam locomotive, bogies and parts for
further traditional Rhyl coaches, and most recently a pair of Cagney coaches.
In May 2007 our new building ‘Central Station
was opened. Customer facilities include the ‘Albert Barnes Room’ which tells
the story of
We hope that this new building will serve the
railway for many future years.
Simon Townsend,
January 1999
& January 2001
& July 2002
& November 2004
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