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Zooline Railroad's C.P. Huntington train.St. Louis Zoo
Zooline Railroad's C.P. Huntington train.
St. Louis Zoo

A ridable miniature railway (USA: 'riding railroad' or 'grand scale railroad') is a ground-level, large scale model railway that hauls passengers using locomotives that are models of full-sized railway locomotives (powered by diesel or petrol engines, live steam engines or electric motors).

Contents

Overview

Typically they have a track gauge between 5 and 18 inches (127 to 458 mm), though both larger and smaller gauges are used.

These large model railroads are most often seen in urban parks or in commercial settings, such as amusement park rides.

The major distinction between a miniature railway and a narrow gauge railway is that miniature lines use models of full-sized prototypes. There are miniature railways that run on gauges as wide as 2 ft (610 mm), for example the Wicksteed Park railway. There are also narrow gauge railways running on extremely narrow track as small as 15-inch (380 mm) gauge or less, for example the Rudyard Lake Steam Railway, Perrygrove Railway and the Eaton Hall Railway: these are known as minimum gauge railways.

Typically in the UK miniature lines are operated as public heritage railways, though many private lines also exist, especially in the USA.

UK Miniature Railways

20 in (508 mm) gauge

18 in (457 mm) gauge

  • Heath Park Tramway, Cardiff website
  • Sundown Adventure Land, Retford, Nottinghamshire
  • Terrific Train, New Metroland, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear

15 in (381 mm) gauge

Bure Valley Railway
Bure Valley Railway
Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway
Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway

12¼ in (311 mm) gauge

12 in (305 mm) gauge

10¼ in (260 mm) gauge

Wells and Walsingham Light Railway
Wells and Walsingham Light Railway
  • Audley End Railway, Audley End, Saffron Walden, Essex website
  • Beale Park, Pangbourne, Berkshire website
  • Berkeley Light Railway, Gloucestershire website
  • Bickington Steam Railway, Trago Mills, Liverton, Newton Abbot, Devon website
  • Birchley Miniature Railway website
  • Brechin Castle Centre Railway, Haughmuir, Brechin
  • Bressingham Gardens, Norfolk
  • Brooklands Pleasure Park, Worthing, Sussex
  • Chichester & District Society of Model Engineers, Chichester, Sussex
  • Drayton Manor Park and Zoo, Staffordshire
  • Eastleigh Lakeside Railway, Hampshire website
  • Egerton Park Sportsground, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire
  • Exmouth Express, Exmouth, Devon
  • Ferry Meadows Miniature Railway, Nene Valley Park, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire
  • Happy Mount Park, Bare, Morecombe, Lancashire
  • Hastings Miniature Railway, Hastings, Sussex
  • Isle of Mull Railway, Mull, Scotland
  • Kerr's Miniature Railway, West Links Park, Arbroath
  • Kirkby Green Light Railway, Sleaford, Lincolnshire (private with open days)
  • Knebworth Park Miniature Railway, Hertfordshire
  • The Rio Grande Miniature Railway, Saville Brothers Garden Centre, Selby Road, Garforth, Leeds
  • Manor Railway, Ingfield Manor, Billingshurst, Sussex
  • Mortocombe Railway, Chilton, Oxfordshire website
  • Newby Hall Miniature Railway North Yorkshire
  • Paignton Environmental Park, Paignton, Devon
  • Paradise Wildlife Park, Broxbourne, Hertfordshire
  • Pettit's Animal Adventure Park, Reedham, Norfolk
  • Poole Park Miniature Railway, Poole, Dorset
  • Queens Park, Chesterfield, Derbyshire
  • Radwell Manor Railway, Radwell, Bedfordshire (closed)
  • Royal Victoria Country Park, Netley, Southampton, Hampshire website
  • Rudyard Lake Steam Railway, Rudyard, near Leek, Staffordshire
  • Smokey Oak Railway, Woodland Park, Brokerswood, Westbury, Wiltshire
  • Stapleford Miniature Railway, Stapleford Park, Leicestershire
  • South Downs Light Railway, Pulborough, Sussex
  • St. Anne's Miniature Railway, St. Annes-on-Sea, Lancashire
  • Sutton Hall Railway, Rochford, Essex website
  • Twycross Zoo, Leicestershire
  • Vanstone Woodland Railway, Vanstone Park Garden Centre, Codicote, Hertfordshire. website
  • Watford Miniature Railway, Cassiobury Park, Watford, Hertfordshire website
  • Wells and Walsingham Light Railway, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
  • Wells Harbour Railway, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk website
  • Weymouth Bay Miniature Railway, Lodmoor, Weymouth, Dorset

9½ in (241 mm) gauge

  • Downs Light Railway, Colwall, Near Malvern, Worcestershire
  • Clevedon Fields Miniature Railway, Salthouse Fields, Somerset
  • Hall Leys Park, Matlock, Derbyshire
  • Lakeshore Railroad, South Marine Park, South Shields, Tyne & Wear
  • Barking Park Miniature Railway, Barking, Essex (Now Closed). Being relaid in 7.25" gauge, 2008.
  • Danson Park, Bexleyheath, Kent 1942 (Temporary line for Holidays at Home Exhibition)
  • Danson Park, Bexleyheath, Kent 1949 to 1962[1]
  • Sidcup Miniature Railway, Sidcup, Kent, 1945 to 1951
  • East Ham Miniature Railway, East Ham, London, 1945 to 1949

9 in (229 mm) gauge

8¼ in (210 mm) gauge

  • Brambridge Park Garden Centre, Eastleigh, Hampshire

7¼ in (184 mm) gauge

5 in gauge (127 mm)

3½ in gauge (89 mm)

Miniature railways - rest of the world

18 in (457 mm) gauge

15 in (381 mm) gauge

  • Dalaas Waldbahn, Austria
  • Wiener Prater Park Vienna, Austria (Prater Liliputbahn)
  • Bear Creek Park Train, British Columbia, Canada
  • Chemin de Fer d'Anse, France
  • Dresdner Park Liliputbahn, Germany
  • Killesberg Park Railway, Stuttgart, Germany
  • Sakuradani Light Railway, Japan
  • Driving Creek, New Zealand
  • Whangaparaoa Narrow Gauge Railway, New Zealand
  • B.A.D. Great Northern Railroad, California, USA
  • Hillcrest & Wahtoke Steam Railroad, California, USA
  • Joshua Tree & Southern GSD, California, USA website
  • Laurel Run, Pennsylvania, USA
  • Little Toot Railroad, Illinois, USA
  • Milwaukee County Zoo, Wisconsin, USA
  • Nickel Plate Railroad, California, USA
  • Northwest Ohio Railroad Preservation, Ohio, USA
  • Orland Newville and Pacific Railroad, California, USA
  • Paradise and Pacific Railroad, Scottsdale Arizona, USA website
  • Parkeisenbahn Auensee in Leipzig, Germany
  • Phoenix & Holly Railroad, Oregon, USA
  • Redwood Valley Railway, California, USA
  • Riverside and Great Northern Railway, Wisconsin, USA
  • Riverview & Twin Lakes Railroad, Wyoming, USA
  • Sonoma Traintown, California, USA website
  • Tiny Town Railroad, Colorado, USA
  • Waterman & Western Railroad, USA website

12 in (305 mm) gauge

  • C&H Railroad, USA website
  • Wabash Frisco & Pacific Railway, Missouri, USA website
  • Zilker Zephyr, Austin, Texas USA website

7¼ in and 7½ in (184 and 191 mm) gauge

Others

See also

References

External links
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