Bredgar_&_Wormshill_Light_Railway
Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway
Heritage railway in Kent, England
The Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway (BWLR) is located near the villages of Wormshill and Bredgar in Kent, just south of Sittingbourne. It is a 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge railway about three-quarters mile (1.2 km) in length.
Quick Facts Technical, Track gauge ...
Bronhilde pulling into Stony Shaw station | |
| Technical | |
|---|---|
| Track gauge | 2 ft (610 mm) |
| Other | |
| Website | http://www.bwlr.co.uk |
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The BWLR is a private line which has been built up as a hobby by a group of friends since the early 1970s.[1] It is a fully operational line, operated to a high standard, with a station, engine sheds and workshops at Warren Wood station and a smaller station at the other end of the line, known as Stony Shaw.
The line is open to the public on the first Sunday of each month and most Wednesdays throughout the summer to raise money to maintain and manage the collection. On event days a number of other attractions are on display including a model railway, a Dutch street organ, a traction engine a steam roller, a Victorian beam engine, an American fire department Ladder truck and a range of old tractors and cars.
The Tearoom is open Wednesday thru Sunday (9:00–15:00) throughout the year offering a selection of teas, coffees, cakes, sandwiches snacks and lunches.
The railway appeared briefly in a segment filmed for the BBC's Saturday Kitchen programme which aired on 18 June 2011.[2]
- Warren Wood Station
- Stony Shaw Station
Operational steam locomotives
More information Manufacturer, Works number and year ...
| Manufacturer | Works number and year |
Wheel arrangement |
Number and name |
Notes | Photo | Commons Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hunslet Engine Co. | 1429/1922 | 0-4-0ST | No. 3 Lady Joan[3] | Used in north Wales slate quarries until 1967. Has been used at Woburn Abbey and Knebworth. Acquired by the BWLR in 1996.[4] |  | |
| W.G. Bagnall | 2088/1919 | 0-4-0ST | No. 4 Armistice | One of two locomotives used on the Birmingham, Tame and Rea District Drainage Board Railway Armistice, was preserved in 1961 and renamed Lady Luxborough. Acquired in 1991 by the BWLR and restored in 1992, regaining her original name.[4] | | |
| Orenstein & Koppel | 5668/1912 | 0-4-0WT | No. 6 Eigiau | Ex Penrhyn Quarry Railway. Sold to Bressingham in 1963. Acquired by the BWLR in 1995.[4] | | |
| Decauville | 246/1897 | 0-4-2T | No. 7 Victory | Used at the Invicta Sugar Mill, Giru, Queensland, Australia. Sold in 1963 and used on a tourist railway. Acquired by the BWLR in 1984.[4] | ||
| Orenstein and Koppel | 12722/1936 | 0-4-0WT | No. 8 Helga | Used at various construction sites in northern Germany until 1957. To UK in 1970 and used on the Brecon Mountain Railway. Acquired by the BWLR in 1999.[4] | ||
| John Fowler & Co. | 13573/1912 | 0-4-2T | No. 10 Zambezi | Originally built to 500 mm (19+3⁄4 in) gauge. Used on Sena Estates railway, Mopeia, Mozambique, hauling sugar.[5] Worked until 1965 then became derelict.[6] To UK in 1998. regauged to 2 ft (610 mm) gauge.[5] Steam test passed in 2009 and entered service in 2010.[6] | |
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Steam locomotives undergoing overhaul or restoration
More information Manufacturer, Works number and year ...
| Manufacturer | Works number and year |
Wheel arrangement |
Number and name |
Notes | Photo | Commons Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Fowler & Co. | 18800/1930 | 0-6-0WT | No. 9 Limpopo | Ex Sena Sugar Estates, No. 17. Used at sugar mill in Mopeia, Mozambique. Acquired by the BWLR in 1998 and restored to working order, entering service in 2003.[7] | | |
| Arnold Jung | 3872/1931 | 0-6-0WT | No. 2 Katie | Used in sugar plantations in the Cameroons. Preserved in 1973 and acquired by the BWLR in 1980. Has flangeless centre driving wheels.[4] | |
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Operational diesel locomotives
More information Manufacturer, Works number and year ...
| Manufacturer | Works number and year |
Wheel arrangement |
Number and name |
Notes | Photo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baguley-Drewry | 3775/1983 | 4wDH | No. 5 Bredgar | Worked on the 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge lines at MoD Milford Haven. Acquired in 1995 and regauged to 2 ft (610 mm) gauge.[4] | |
| Andrew Barclay | 765/1988 | 4wDM | No. 14 Milstead | MoD No. NG54, Ex RAF Chilmark.[8] Arrived at BWLR in 2014. | |
| Schöma | 5239/1991 | 4wDH | Jenny | Used during the construction of the Channel Tunnel[8] Arrived at BWLR in 2016. |
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Diesel locomotives undergoing overhaul or restoration
More information Manufacturer, Works number and year ...
| Manufacturer | Works number and year |
Wheel arrangement |
Number and name |
Notes | Photo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Motor Rail | 9869/1953 | 4wDM | No. 12 Bicknor | Supplied new to Great Ouse River Authority, Ely. In service until 1977. Acquired by the BWLR in 2010 from The Hop Farm Country Park, Beltring.[9] | |
| Motor Rail | 7073/1936 | 4wPM | No. 13 Lyne | Works No. MR 7073. Built 1936. Built as a Petrol loco. Converted to a Deutz air cooled engine and new box body by Alan Keef in 1970.
Was used by Sinclair Horticulture Bolton Fell Cumbria and served there until 2016 when it moved to BWLR. |
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More information Manufacturer, Works number and year ...
| Manufacturer | Works number and year |
Wheel arrangement |
Number and name |
Notes | Photo | Commons Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L. Schwartzkopff | 9124/1927 | 0-4-0WT | No. 1 Bronhilde | Used at the Norddeutsche Affinerie copper smelting works, Hamburg. Sold to Bressingham in 1976. Acquired in 1979, it was the first steam locomotive at the BWLR.[4] Sold to Richmond Light Railway in 2021.[10] |
| |
| Henschel & Sohn | 29582/1956 | 0-6-0WT | No. 105 Siam | Worked on a sugar plantation in Chonburi Province, Thailand. Has visited Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway. 750 mm (2 ft 5+1⁄2 in) gauge.[4] Sold to a railway in Latvia.[11] |
||
| Hudswell Clarke | DM1366/1965 | 0-6-0DM | 15 | Ex National Coal Board Harden Colliery and Seaham Colliery. Sold to South Tynedale Railway in 1990. To BWLR in 2006, then left in 2021.[12][13] | ||
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The museum has four steam road locomotives in its collection; some are operational and steamed on open days and others are undergoing repair, restoration or overhaul.
More information Manufacturer, Works number and year ...
| Manufacturer | Works number and year |
Registration number and name |
Notes | Photo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garrett | 33442/1919 | BL 9009 | Agricultural engine used at Hartford Manor, Faringdon until 1943, then at Witney until 1950. Relegated to heating a greenhouse at Brize Norton until preserved in 1964. Has been named King of the Road and Caroline in preservation but did not carry a name during its working life. Acquired by the BWLR in 1988. Operational and used on event days.[14] |
|
| Ruston & Hornsby | 115023/1922 | XM 6373 | Steam roller new to Henry Woodham, Catford in 1922. Used on road repairs until the 1950s. Preserved in 1978 and acquired by the BWLR in 1988. Operational and used on event days.[14] |
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Bean cars
The BWLR is home to a collection of Bean cars.[15]
More information Model, Power ...
| Model | Power | Year built |
Registration number |
Notes | Photo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model 6 Tourer | 14 HP | 1923 | SV9172 | Exported to Australia in 1923, re-imported in 2001.[15] | |
| Model 2 | 11.9 horsepower (8.9 kW) | 1922 | ME5904 | Under restoration as of May 2015.[15] | |
| Model 2 | 11.9 horsepower (8.9 kW) | 1923 | BU2789 | One of the most original Bean cars in preservation. This car left the collection 2012.[15] | |
| Model 3 | 14 horsepower (10 kW) | 1925 | PE2445 | Converted to a pick-up in the early 1930s. Restored to five-seat tourer in 1974. This car left the collection 2012.[15] | |
| Model 4 | 12 horsepower (8.9 kW) | 1925 | XW8431 | Used by a funeral director as a following car. This car left the collection 2012.[15] | |
| Model 4 | 12 horsepower (8.9 kW) | 1926 | FD3435 | Car has original body, which has four identical doors. This car left the collection 2012.[15] | |
| Model 6 | 1927 | SV8671 | Exported new to Australia. Fitted with a body made locally in Adelaide. This car left the collection 2012.[15] | ||
| Omnibus | 1929 | UL1771 | Body by Birch Bros, Kentish Town on a Bean 1½ Ton chassis. Used as a caravan 1941–1966, bought for preservation in 1966 and restored 1988–1991. This vehicle left the collection 2012.[15] | ||
| Model 11 | 1930 | FG6161 | Built on a 1½ Ton chassis. Spent its working life in Wooler, Northumberland. Bought for preservation in 1970 and restored 1990–2000. This car left the collection 2012.[15] | ||
| Pick-up Truck | 1926 | This vehicle left the collection 2012. | |||
| Van | XM7525 | This vehicle left the collection 2012. |
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Other cars
More information Manufacturer, Model ...
| Manufacturer | Model | Year built |
Registration number |
Notes | Photo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rolls-Royce | Phantom I | 1928 | YX4095 |
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Other exhibits to be found at the BWLR include:
Beam engine
An 1870 beam engine built by Thomas Horn to a design by James Watt. One of two supplied to a waterworks at Ashford. Acquired in 1988 and restored to working order.[16]
The BWLR is twinned with the Chemin de Fer de La Valée de l'Ouche (CFVO), Bligny-sur-Ouche, Côte-d'Or, France.[17][18]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway.
- "Episode broadcast 18 June 2011". Saturday Kitchen. BBC iPlayer. Retrieved 20 June 2011.
- James, Jonathan (May 2021). Narrow Gauge Railways London and South East England. Narrow Gauge Railway Society.
- Visitors Guide. Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway. 2008.
- "Un-named Fowler". Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway. Archived from the original on 12 April 2009. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
- "Fowler resteams after Bredgar rebuild". Heritage Railway (132, 22 December 2009 – 20 January 2010): 11.
- "No9. Limpopo". Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway. Archived from the original on 12 April 2009. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
- "Diesel Locos". BWLR.
- "Waterworks locomotive moves to Bredgar". Heritage Railway (139): 23. 28 October – 24 November 2010.
- "Bronhilda moves from Bredgar to Richmond". Narrow Gauge World (155). 26 February 2021.
- ILFORD. "Related Notes". www.steamlocomotive.info. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
- "Hudswell-Clarke Diesel". Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway. Archived from the original on 12 April 2009. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
- "The BWLR - Bredgar & Wormshill Light Railway". Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
- "Traction Engines at the BWLR". Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
- "Bean Automobile Collection". Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway. Archived from the original on 23 October 2004. Retrieved 3 August 2008.
- "Beam Engine". Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
- "CFVO twins with BWLR- October 2007 (Jumelage avec le Bredgar & Wormshill Railway octobre 2007)". The Tourist Railway of the Ouche Valley "CFVO". Retrieved 28 March 2016.
- "BWLR and CFVO". Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway. Archived from the original on 2 October 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2008.