Beeches Light Railway

The Beeches Light Railway was a private narrow gauge railway in Steeple Aston, Oxfordshire, England, in the garden of the late Adrian Shooter, the former director of Chiltern Railways. The line contained one station, Rinkingpong Road (Bengali: রিনকিংপং রোড) at an elevation of 351 feet (107 m) above sea level.[1]

The Beeches Light Railway at Ringkingpong Station
Map of Beeches Light Railway

History
Adrian Shooter (driver, right) with Jeremy Davey (fireman, left) onboard locomotive No.19 at Beeches in 2019.

In 2019, Shooter announced that the Beeches Light Railway would close at the end of the year. It was planned to move the railway to a new, larger location, reopening in spring 2020.[2][3][4][5] As of December 2022 the railway remained in situ, but was dismantled in the months following, after Adrian Shooter's death.

Track

The nearly 1 mile (1.6 km) railway track with a gauge of 2 ft (610 mm) was built between 2002 and 2004.[6] It resembled a figure of eight, with a loop around the back garden and another around the front, where it crossed the main drive. An Indian-style railway station and sheds were behind the house. The theme of an Indian railway was present throughout, including the name of the station ("Ringkingpong Road Station"), fare evasion signs citing Indian rupees, and some interior decorations as well. Although the railway was private, and not subject to rail regulations, it was run professionally by Shooter and experienced volunteers with railway rulebooks and regulations, and the steam engine had to be certified each year.[7]

Steam locomotive
Steam locomotive 778

The railway's primary motive power, a Class 'B' steam locomotive 778,[8][9] was built by Sharp Stewart in 1888, works number 3518. 778 was built for India's Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.[10] where it ran until either 1960 or 1962, when it was sold to Elliot Donnelley, a railway enthusiast in the US,[11] who was the major shareholder in RR Donnelley Co, a large printer and publisher in Chicago. After Donnelley died in 1975 the locomotive passed to the Hesston Steam Museum,[6] where it stayed until it was bought by Adrian Shooter in 2002 and restored to working order.

Carriages

Two modern replicas of the carriages used on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway were occasionally used to transport invited guests.[6][7][12][13][14] These carriages were commissioned from Boston Lodge works, to accompany the locomotive.[15][16][17]

Draisine
Adrian Shooter's draisine of the type 'Ford Model T' on the Beeches Light Railway

Shooter owned also a replica Ford Model-T motorcar that he ran on the tracks. It is based on a modified car used by the USA railway to inspect tracks[7] on the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad. The replica was commissioned from the Statfold Barn Railway.[18] It includes a jacking system that will lift the wheels free of the rails and allow it to be rotated on its axis in order to go the other way round.[19]

Additional rolling stock

Stored in the railway shed there was some rolling stock from the London Mail Rail, an underground goods railway line, which was used to transport letters and parcels between sorting depots before it was mothballed.[7]

Closure

As of March 2023, after Adrian Shooter's death, the 1 mile (1.6 km) of track, plus rolling stock from the railway were auctioned for sale in June 2023. [20]The winning bid was by The Darjeeling Tank Locomotive Trust, who managed to buy both 778 and the two replica coaches, which are now based at Statfold Country Park.[21]

References
  1. Plumb, Geoff (24 June 2011). রিনকিংপং রোড [Rinkingpong Road] (JPG). Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  2. Holden, Michael (12 February 2019). "Private steam railway set for closure". RailAdvent.
  3. Devereux, Nigel (6 March 2019). "Beeches Light Railway moving to new site". The Railway Magazine.
  4. Davis, Samuel; Heritage Collection (30 July 2019). Conclusion (PDF). Heritage Assessment The Beeches, Steeple Aston (Report). Cherwell District. pp. 18, 26. The railway that runs around this field and the garden is unusual, but it was built in the 21st century and so has no heritage interest. … The Beeches consists of a house built c.1908, a number of outbuildings, a field to the west of the site and a miniature railway built between 2002 and 2004. The proposal is for the construction of eight residential properties. Two replacing the outbuildings to the north-east of the site and six within the field to the west.
  5. Malcolm Payne Group (26 July 2019). Indicative Layout (PDF) (plan). The Beeches, Steeple Aston. Cherwell District. Existing buildings/structures to be removed
  6. Sinha, Kounteya (18 September 2014). "Love for Darjeeling toy train makes Briton buys off world's oldest surviving locomotive". Times of India. Retrieved 13 January 2016. model number 778 … run it in his personal garden … tracks over 1.5 km is in the form of a loop … Ambassador car that runs by the train when it chugs through his garden to give it a real feel of Darjeeling. … station that looks exactly like the original Sukna station
  7. Ian Mansfield: The Beeches Light Railway – a private steam railway. Uploaded on 10 July 2011. Retrieved on 19 February 2016.
  8. "One of the original "B Class" Sharp Stewart Steam Locomotive Comes Home". Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
  9. Yang, Alice (11 November 2011). "Interview: Adrian Shooter". Felix Online. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
  10. Industrial Locomotives: including preserved and minor railway locomotives. Vol. 16EL. Melton Mowbray: Industrial Railway Society. 2012. p. 172. ISBN 978 1 901556 78 0.
  11. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society: DHR B class Number 19 celebrates its 120th Birthday.
  12. Hearn, Dan (28 May 2010). "Rail boss with a special train set". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 10 December 2015. three-acre estate at Steeple Aston, near Bicester.
  13. Debroy, Bibek (1 January 2016). "Locomotive number 778". Business Standard. India. owns Beeches Light Railway. Indeed, it operates out of his residence in Steeple Aston, Oxfordshire.
  14. Sharma, Anuradha (14 August 2014). "An Indian Relic in Oxfordshire". Forbes India. Retrieved 13 January 2015. Shooter bought an "arts and crafts" style house in Steeple Aston village, shipped in a Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) steam locomotive and set up his own private railway—the Beeches Light Railway—in his three-acre garden.
  15. Dimmick, R (4 May 2012). New Build - Darjeeling Himalaya Railway Carriages (PDF). pp. 9, 11. Archived from the original (brochure) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2015. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  16. Sinha, Kounteya (19 September 2014). "Oldest toy train chugs through British garden". Times of India. Retrieved 13 January 2016. two replicas of DHR carriages were constructed at the Boston Lodge Works of the Ffestiniog Railway. These and the locomotive run in Adrian Shooter's private garden railway.
  17. Sinha, Kounteya (20 September 2014). "A Darjeeling joyride in a British garden". Times of India. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  18. "July fun for all the family on the rails!". rail.co.uk. 27 May 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2016. Model T railcar … based on a Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railway (Maine, USA) Superintendent's Inspection Car. … built for Adrian Shooter at the Statfold Barn Railway in 2008 and resides at Adrian's private Beeches Light Railway
  19. Chris Allen: Beeches Light Railway - interesting vehicle. The Geograph No 4111684.
  20. "The Beeches Light Railway Dispersal Sale of the Late Well Renowned Adrian Shooter's Private Collection of Darjeeling Steam Locomotive, Locomotive Literature and Railway Memorabilia". Upcoming auctions. Ledbury: H. J. Hugh. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  21. "Home". Darjeeling Tank. Retrieved 8 October 2023.

51.92374°N 1.308797°W / 51.92374; -1.308797

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