Leighton Buzzard Light Railway

Leighton Buzzard Light Railway
A train on the LBLR being pulled by No. 11 PC Allen
Locale	England
Terminus	Page's Park, Leighton Buzzard
Commercial operations
Name	Leighton Buzzard Light Railway
Built by	A.J. Arnold and G. Garside
Original gauge	2 ft (610 mm)
Preserved operations
Operated by	Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway Society
Stations	2
Length	3 miles (4.8 km)
Preserved gauge	2 ft (610 mm)
Commercial history
Opened	1919
Closed	1969
Preservation history
1968	First passenger trains run by preservation society

The Leighton Buzzard Light Railway (LBLR) is a light railway in Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire, England. It operates on 2 ft (610 mm) narrow-gauge track and is just under 3 miles (4.8 km) long. The line was built after the First World War to serve sand quarries north of the town. In the late 1960s the quarries switched to road transport and the railway was taken over by volunteers, who now run the line as a heritage railway.

History

Sand extraction

A bed of Lower Cretaceous sand across Bedfordshire has been quarried on a small scale for centuries. The most significant occur around Leighton Buzzard. In the 19th century sand was carried by horse carts from quarries south of the town to be shipped on the Dunstable-Leighton Buzzard railway. The carts damaged roads and resulted in claims for compensation against the quarry owners from Bedfordshire County Council. At the end of the century steam wagons were introduced which increased the damage to roads.

The outbreak of the First World War cut off supplies of foundry sand from Belgium. Sand was needed for ammunition factories and new sources were sought. Leighton Buzzard sands proved well suited and production increased. After 1919 the quarry companies were told they could no longer transport sand by roads, so a private industrial railway was proposed to take the traffic.

Original railway

Leighton Buzzard Light Railway opened on Thursday 20 November 1919, linking the sand quarries (Double Arches at the far end of the line) with the mainline railway south of the town at Grovebury sidings. The line was built using surplus equipment from the War Department Light Railways. The railway was built to a gauge of 2 ft (610 mm) and laid using mostly 30 lb/yd (14.9 kg/m) rail. The line opened using steam traction by two Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0 side tank steam locomotives. These proved inappropriate for the tightly-curved line and the steam locomotives were sold in 1921. From that point the railway was run using internal combustion, almost exclusively the products of the Motor Rail company. It was one of the first railways in Britain entirely operated by internal combustion.

After the Second World War sand traffic returned to the roads. In 1953 a strike on mainline railways pushed more traffic onto the roads. By the mid-1960s only one sand quarry, Arnold's, still used the light railway. The BR line to Dunstable was closed in 1965, apart from a short stretch from Leighton Buzzard to Grovebury interchange sidings, which survived until 1969.

Preservation

In 1968 the line was more lightly used and volunteers under the name of "The Iron Horse Railway Preservation Society" took over the line on weekends to run the first formal passenger services on the line. Part of the agreement between the railway and the volunteers was that volunteers would repair the permanent way. This was undertaken, the group having purchased secondhand rolling stock and four Simplex diesels from the St Albans Sand and Gravel company, which were dismantled and formed into one machine. The last sand train ran on the main line in 1969, although several quarries continued to use the lines within their quarries. These were eventually replaced by roads and conveyor belts and the last internal quarry line was abandoned in 1981. Today the line is run purely as a heritage railway.

A large collection of steam and internal combustion locomotives run on the line. Visitors can ride the train and are issued with an Edmondson ticket. There is a collection of industrial railway locomotives at Stonehenge Works towards the northern end of the line.

The railway is promoted by the Campaign to Protect Rural England.^[1] On 22 June 2013, John Travolta visited the railway with his son Benjamin.^[2]

Route

The line is unusual as it runs mostly through modern housing built since the 1970s, although the last half mile runs through countryside. There are open level crossings for which trains stop.

The railway began at Grovebury Sidings, where sand trains unloaded into washers and the sand was shipped to standard-gauge trains on the Dunstable branch or to road. The sidings and industrial plant at Grovebury were replaced with an industrial estate in the early 1970s.

Trains from Grovebury crossed Billington Road by a level crossing and worked up a steep grade to Page's Park. Here a branch line south connected to the line's main engineering workshop and the Pratt's Pit quarry. In 2006 Page's Park forms the southern terminus of the heritage railway.

From Page's Park the line curves north towards a summit at Red Barn. From there it descends at 1 in 60 (1.7%) before climbing again to cross Stanbridge Road. On the left is the site of Marley's Tile Works, now a housing estate, which was connected to the railway for most of its existence. The line descends Marley's Bank at a maximum of 1 in 25 (4%). Loaded sand trains to Grovebury Sidings often needed a banking locomotive.

At the bottom of Marley's Bank the line turns sharply north and runs along the level to Leedon Loop. The line here passes through housing. After Leedon, the railway crosses Hockliffe Road and crosses the Clipstone Brook and begins to climb again on a 1 in 50 (2%) gradient to cross Vandyke Road.

Immediately after crossing Vandyke Road the line curves 90 degrees to Vandyke Junction where there was a passing loop. Here the branch line from Chamberlain's Barn and New Trees quarries joined the main line. A short section of this branch remains intact although heritage trains do not use it. The railway then runs parallel to Vandyke Road, climbing steadily to Bryan's Loop then descending again to cross the Shenley Hill Road. The line levels and continues to Stonehenge Works now the engineering workshop of the preserved railway. This is also the northern terminus of modern operations.

From Stonehenge the line continues northwards with a 1 mile (1.6 km) of double track, climbing towards the two Double Arches sand quarries, owned by Joseph Arnold and George Garside.

Preserved locomotives

These are the locomotives on the preserved railway. All are 2 ft (610 mm) gauge nominally, except where noted.

Steam

No.	Name	Wheel Type	Builder	Works No.	Year Built	Origin	Livery	Notes	Image
1	Chaloner	0-4-0VBT	De Winton	n/a	1877	Penyrorsedd slate quarry, north Wales	Lined black	Worked at the Penybryn quarry until 1881, then Penyrorsedd until 1960. Purchased by Alfred Fisher and transferred to Leighton Buzzard in 1968. Too small for regular use but used on gala days. Undergoing major overhaul which will require a new boiler.
2	Pixie	0-4-0ST	Kerr Stuart	4260	1922	Devon County Council, Wilminstone Quarry	Lined green	One of 27 of the Wren class ordered for a sewer contract in Essex, sold to Devon County Council in 1929. Purchased by the Industrial Locomotive Society in 1957; entered service at Leighton Buzzard in 1969. Has previously been on loan at the Devon Railway Centre and has now returned to LBNGR. Can be seen running on gala days but as of 2017 is currently undergoing overhaul.
3	Rishra	0-4-0T	Baguley cars Ltd.	2007	1921	Hoogly Docking & Engineering Co., Rishra, India	Lined green	The only remaining locomotive of this type. Spent all of its working life in Calcutta, where it shunted coal wagons at a water pumping station. Purchased by Mike Satow in 1963 and repatriated to Leighton Buzzard. Entered service in 1971. Too small for regular use and only used on gala days. Operational as of 2017.
4	Doll	0-6-0T	Andrew Barclay	1641	1919	Sydenham Ironstone Quarry, King's Sutton, Oxfordshire	Lined blue	Transferred in 1926 to Bilston Furnaces, where it ran until 1960. Purchased by the Bressingham Steam Museum in 1966; sold to Henry Williams in 1969; purchased by Leighton Buzzard Light Railway in 1972. A major overhaul which involved the construction of a new boiler, was completed in 2004 and the locomotive was used regularly on passenger trains. Returned to service in 2017 after a ten-yearly overhaul.
5	Elf	0-6-0WT	Orenstein & Koppel	12740	1936	Likomba Development Company, Cameroon, Africa	Lined umber	Purchased in 1973 after serving on plantation railways in Cameroon until 1971. Wood-burning with a spark arrestor. Now converted to coal. Stored awaiting overhaul.
11	PC Allen	0-4-0WT	Orenstein & Koppel	5834	1913	Solvay Alkali Works, Torrelavega, Spain	Unlined green and black	Was originally built for the internal railway system at the chemical works of Solvay & Cie, Torrelavega, Spain. Purchased by Sir Peter Allen in 1963, transferred to Leighton Buzzard in 1970. Returned to service in 2014 following a major overhaul but now withdrawn requiring boiler repairs.
9	Peter Pan	0-4-0ST	Kerr Stuart	4256	1922	Devon County Council, Willminstone Quarry, Devon	Unlined green	Wren class locomotive that worked with Pixie in Devon. Purchased in 1972 by Graham Hall who found the locomotive in a garden in Bromsgrove.
778		4-6-0PT	Baldwin Locomotive Works	44656	1917	War Department Light Railways	Unlined black	Baldwin Class 10-12-D. One of 495 locomotives built by Baldwin in 1917, for the UK War Department Light Railways. They operated on the thousands of miles of narrow-gauge tracks that supplied the front line trenches in the First World War. It then worked in India until the 1980s, finishing at the Upper India Sugar Mills in Uttar Pradesh. Entered service in August 2007 and is regularly used on passenger trains. The completion of the restoration made 778 the first locomotive of this type to operate in Britain since 1950.[citation needed]
4	Sezela	0-4-0T	Avonside Engine Company	1738	1915	Sezela sugar-cane plantation, Natal, South Africa	Unlined green	Built for the 125 mile line that served the Sezela sugar-cane plantation in Natal, South Africa. Returned to service after overhaul in 2019.
	Gertrude	0-6-0T	Andrew Barclay	1578	1918	Sydenham Ironstone Quarry, King's Sutton, Oxfordshire	Lined red	Transferred in 1926 to Bilston Furnaces where it ran until 1960 with classmate Doll. It steamed for the first time in preservation at the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway in 2010. She remained there until 2019 where she moved to the Leighton Buzzard Railway. She is undergoing overhaul to be returned to operational condition.
2023		0-8-0T	Krauss	7455	1918	First World War service in the German Army	Unlined grey	One of 2500 of this design to be built to serve the German Army in World War I. Following the war it was used on the sugar-beet railway at Maizy in northern France. Finally, it moved to a sand quarry in Variscourt in 1964 before being acquired for preservation in 1970. Acquired by the Leighton Buzzard Railway in 2014 and is awaiting restoration to full working order.
	Pedemoura	0-6-0WT	Orenstein & Koppel	10808	1922	Douro Valley coal mines, northern Portugal	Lined green	Is one size larger than Elf and is a powerful locomotive. After operating for the Douro Valley coal mines in northern Portugal, it was shipped over to the UK in the 1970s for preservation. Following an extensive restoration, the locomotive re-entered service for the first time in over 50 years in July 2016.[3]
	Nutty	4wVBT	Sentinel Waggon Works	7701	1929	Fletton Brickworks	Yellow	2 ft 6 in (762 mm)
	Penlee	0-4-0WT	Freudenstein	73	1901		Red	Rebuilt by ARC c1983[4]
	Elidir	0-4-0T	Avonside	2071	1933			[4]
		0-4-0WT	Orenstein & Koppel	2544	1907			[4]

Internal combustion

No.	Name	Type	Builder	Works No.	Year Built	Origin	Livery	Notes	Image
(1)		4wDM	Motor Rail	5612	1931	St Albans Sand and Gravel Co. Ltd. Nazeing, Essex		Dismantled by 1988. Restored and returned to service to celebrate the 100th anniversary in 2019.
(2)		4wDM	Motor Rail	5608	1931	St Albans Sand and Gravel Co. Ltd. Smallford, Hertfordshire		Converted to a brakevan, c. 1970
(3)		4wDM	Motor Rail	5613	1931	St Albans Sand and Gravel Co. Ltd. Smallford, Hertfordshire		Converted to a crane, c. 1970
7	Falcon (Pam until c. 1978)	4wDM	Orenstein & Koppel	8986	unknown	Woodham Brick Co. Ltd., Wotton, Buckinghamshire	Blue	Only surviving member of the MD2 class in Britain. Rescued from a Newport Pagnell scrapyard in 1970 by Peter Hodges.
8	Gollum	4wDM	Ruston Hornsby	217999	1942	Featherby's Brickworks, Rochford, Essex
9	Madge	4wDM	Orenstein & Koppel	7600	1935	Oxstead Grestone Lime Co. Ltd., Oxstead, Surrey		Single cylinder RL1C class
10	Haydn Taylor	4wDM	Motor Rail	7956	1945	British Industrial Sand Ltd. Middelton Towers, Norfolk		Originally loaned by its owners in 1971. Nicknamed "Breadbin" due to its unusual cab shape. Rebuilt in 1973 with a conventional cab.
12	Carbon	4wPM	Motor Rail	6012	1930	Standard Bottle Co., New Southgate, Middlesex		Arrived in 1972 via M.E. Engineering, Cricklewood.
13	Arkle	4wDM	Motor Rail	7108	1937	George Garside, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire		Original Leighton Buzzard sand quarry loco, operated until 1981
(14)		4wDM	Hunslet	3646	1946	Crumbles Gravel Pits, Eastbourne, Sussex		Arrived 1972
15	Tom Bombadil (after 1990)	4wDM	F.C. Hibberd	2415	1941	Butterley & Blaby Brick Companies Ltd., Ripley, Derbyshire
16	Thorin Oakenshield	4wPM	Lister	11221	1939	Guard Bridge Paper Co. Ltd., Leuchars, Fife
17	Damredub	4wPM	Motor Rail	7036	1936	George Garside, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire		Original Leighton Buzzard sand quarry loco, operated until 1981
18	Fëanor	4wDM	Motor Rail	11003	1956	British Industrial Sands Ltd., Middleton Towers, Norfolk	Dark Maroon
19		4wDM	Motor Rail	11298	1965	British Industrial Sands Ltd., Middleton Towers, Norfolk
20		4wDM	Motor Rail	60S317	1966	British Industrial Sands Ltd., Middleton Towers, Norfolk
21	Festoon	4wPM	Motor Rail	4570	1929	George Garside, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire		Original Leighton Buzzard sand quarry loco, preserved 1981
22	Fingolfin	4wDM	LBLR	1	1989	Constructed from parts of Ruston Hornsby 425798 and 444207
23		4wDM	Ruston Hornsby	164346	1932	West Kent Main Sewage Board, Littlebrook, Kent		Second oldest Ruston Hornsby locomotive in existence
24		4wDM	Motor Rail	11297	1965	British Industrial Sands Ltd., Middleton Towers, Norfolk
(34)	RED RUM	4wDM	Motor Rail	7105	1936		Red
36	Caravan	4wDM	Motor Rail	7129	1938	Redland Flettons Brick Company	Yellow	An unusual variant of the Motor Rail Simplex class with an overall cab.
(40)	TRENT	4wDM	Ruston & Hornsby	283507	1949		Blue
43		4wDM	Motor Rail	10409	1954	Leighton Buzzard Light Railway Company, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire		Original LBLR mainline locomotive; purchased by John Cohring in 1972
NG46		4wDH	Baguley-Drewry	3698	1973			[4]
NG51 "River Sark"		4wDH	Barclay	720	1987	Eastriggs Munitions Factory, Dumfries-Shire, Scotland.		Arrived 2022. visited the FR for the 1995 Gala. Nameplates currently removed.
81	PETER WOOD	4wDH	Hunslet	9347	1994			[4]

Electric

No.	Name	Type	Builder	Works No.	Year Built	Origin	Livery	Notes	Image
NG23		4wBE	Baguley-Drewry	3702	1973			Rebuilt by Andrew Barclay 1987[4]

Previous running stock

Visiting locomotives

See also

• British narrow-gauge railways

References

• Leleux, Sydney (1996). The Leighton Buzzard Light Railway (2nd ed.). The Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-85361-460-1.
• Hughes D.N.R.; et al. (1974). Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway Guide. Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway Society Ltd.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway.

• Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway website
• https://web.archive.org/web/20160110092408/http://www.gertrude1578.co.uk/
• http://www.railworld.net

51°54′31″N 0°39′6.32″W / 51.90861°N 0.6517556°W / 51.90861; -0.6517556

This page was last edited on 7 January 2024, at 20:33