Great Cockcrow Railway

The Great Cockcrow Railway is a 7 ¹⁄₄ in (184 mm) gauge miniature railway located at Lyne, near Chertsey, Surrey, UK.

It is open on Sunday afternoons from May to October inclusive, plus Wednesday afternoons during August.

History

This 7 ¹⁄₄ in (184 mm) gauge railway originated in 1946 when John Samuel started construction in the garden of his house,'Greywood', on the Burwood Park estate at Walton-on-Thames. With the help of a group of volunteers the Greywood Central Railway developed into one of the foremost of its type in the country until by 1962 a run of 3/4 mile was possible. From the first the line was properly signalled and ultimately worked to a timetable. Samuel's death in October 1962 threw the railway's future into doubt but the publisher, Ian Allan, purchased the line and, with the assistance of most of the GCR volunteers, a few of whom are still involved, moved it to its present site at Hardwick Lane, Chertsey. It reopened to the public on 14 September 1968 under the new name Great Cockcrow Railway, taken from Cockcrow Hill which rises on its south side.

Signalling

A view of the interior of Everglades Junction Signalbox showing the Lever frame

Prototypical working with full track circuiting and accurate signalling remains the key to the railway's operation. The two termini are controlled by semaphores while the whole of the main line is equipped with colour-lights, ten of these being automatic. The boxes at Hardwick Central and Everglades Junction are fitted with Westinghouse 'L' type frames with, respectively, twenty-three and thirty-one miniature levers. The former was once part of the 227-lever installation at Crewe South junction while the latter is the complete frame from South Croydon junction. The country terminus, Cockcrow Hill, has a 16-lever full-size 'knee' frame manufactured by the Railway Signal Company, probably around 1930. It came from the Waterloo terminus of the Waterloo & City line. The signalling system is all-electric, including the interlocking, semaphores being worked by solenoids sealed for outdoor use. All signals return to 'danger' when the train has passed into the next track-circuit section. Points have a mechanism powered by the very reliable Ford Escort windscreen wiper motor that moves the blades and then locks and detects them. No detection, no signal! The few sprung points are also detected to ensure closure after a train has passed through in the trailing direction. Two different routes are offered to the public, both running to about 1 1/4 miles. A named train, 'The Gladesman', operates once each working afternoon at 4.30 pm, covering both routes.

Locomotives

There are presently about 25 steam engines and four i/c locomotives in the stud, all owned by individual members of the operating team. Six or seven can usually be seen on operating days.

Steam locomotives are based on British mainline prototypes built to 1/8 scale. All four pre-Nationalisation companies are represented and locos from both pre-Grouping and BR 'Standard' eras are present. The oldest,a North Eastern Railway class 'R1' (LNER D19) 4-4-0 was built in 1913 and is still in full working order. The smallest is a GWR 1400 class 0-4-2T while the largest are the 'Pacifics',the oldest being the freelance Pacific built by Louis Shaw in 1927 and given the name 'Eureka' by Sir John Samuel in 1947, with others from the LMS, LNER and Southern companies, as well as British Railways. Engines of 2-6-0 and 4-6-0 wheel arrangement feature as do 'Atlanics' from both the GNR and LBSCR alongside 0-8-0, 2-8-0 and 2-10-0 freight engines. A comprehensive list follows.

Trains

Trains are generally made up of three 4-seater 'sit-in' bogie carriages to accommodate twelve people. The all-up weight of a train - without the engine - is estimated on average to be about 1 1/4 tons or 1270 kg. 'The Gladesman' is double-headed and is made up of six or seven carriages depending on demand.

List of Locomotives

Southern Railway

• 'MN' class 4-6-2 no 21C11, 'General Steam Navigation', 1993, Malachite Green:
• 'LN' class 4-6-0 no 850, 'Lord Nelson', 1985, Olive Green:
• 'S15' class 4-6-0 no 837, 1947, Olive Green:
• Ex-LBSCR 'H2' class 4-4-2 no 2422, 'North Foreland', 1981, Maunsell Green:
• 'U'/Rebuilt 'River' class 2-6-0 no 1803, 'River Itchen', 1936, Maunsell Green:
• 'Q' class 0-6-0 no 30541, 2000, BR unlined Black.

London & North Eastern Railway

• 'A3' class 4-6-2 no 2744, 'Grand Parade', 1990, Apple Green:
• ex-GNR 'C1' class 4-4-2 no 1442, 1988, GNR Grass Green:
• ex-NER 'R1' class 4-4-0 no 1239, 1913, NER Pea Green:
• 'K3' class 2-6-0 no 1935, 1974, Apple Green:
• 'K5' class 2-6-0 no 206, Wartime unlined Black:
• ex-NER 'T2' class 0-8-0 no 1249, NER lined Black:
• Great Central Railway-type Freelance 4-6-2 no 1947, 'Eureka', 1927, unlined Brunswick Green.

Great Western Railway

• '7900' 'Modified Hall' class 4-6-0 no 7915, 'Mere Hall', 1952, BR Brunswick Green:
• '1400' class 0-4-2T no 1401, 1980, BR unlined Black.

London, Midland & Scottish Railway

• '8P' class 4-6-2 no 46245, 'City of London', 1950, lined Red:
• '6P' class 4-6-0 no 6115, 'Scots Guardsman', 1989, 'Later' lined Red:
• '5MT' class 4-6-0 no 5000, 'Sister Dora', 1981, lined Black:
• '5MT' class 4-6-0 no 5145, 1991, lined Black:
• '5MT' class 4-6-0 no 45157, 'Glasgow Highlander', 1997, 'Later' BR lined Black:
• '5MT' class 4-6-0 no 45440, 2004, 'Early' BR lined Black:
• '8F' class 2-8-0 no 8374, 1993, unlined Black:

British Railways

• '7MT' class 4-6-2 no 70054, 'Dornoch Firth', 2012, BR Brunswick Green:
• ex-'WD' class 2-10-0 no 73755, 'Longmoor', 1951, War Department unlined Grey:

Non-Steam

• 'Hymek' outline 4w-4w battery-electric, 'A B MacLeod', 1982, BR Blue:
• '60' class 6w-6w battery-electric no 60097, 'Pillar', 2008, Heavy-haul Light Grey:
• Metropolitan Railway 'Metrovick' Bo-Bo no 8, 'Sherlock Holmes', 2008 LT Maroon.

Others: not normally in passenger service

• Freelance 0-4-2T 'Alison', 2006, unlined Dark Green:
• LMS 0-6-0 petrol-mechanical shunter no 7112, 1958, unlined Black:
• BR 'Deltic' outline 6w-6w petrol-hydraulic no 9007, 'Pinza', 1978, BR Brunswick Green.

External links

• Official site
• Aerial view