The first line to carry passengers once againwas… the 15in- gauge ClevedonMiniature Railway!
EARLYJunesawnorthSomerset’s ClevedonMiniatureRailwaybecome whatappearstobethefirstlineintheUK tostartofferingpassengerridesagain.
Owner Simon Harvey, who has been associatedwith the line for 44years, said:“Working with North Somerset Council, and their health and safety department and the Officeof Rail & Road, weweregiven permission to open. Wehave implantedstrict social distancing measures with every other compartment out of service to maintain two- metredistancing. All seats are cleaned after eachuse with anti- bacteria sprays.
“Wehavealso introduced a cashless payment system.
The response from the public has been overwhelming.
“The Clevedon Railway has a special place inpeople’s memories as they rode it when they were kids, and even grandparents have been recalling their first trip– anywonderful memories as it says on the back of the tender:‘ PoweredByDreams!’
The railway isnowopen everyday weather permitting. Thecircular line in Salthouse Fields, near the resort’s seafront, was first opened in 1952 asa9 ½ in- gauge line, with an IvattAtlantic hauling twocarriages on an out- and- back ride. Extended toacircuit in 1962, the steam locomotive was soon replaced with a Bo- Bodiesel.
In 2013, Mr Harvey took over the railway and regauged it to 15in to accommodatea24- volt battery operated new steam outline greenliveried‘ Black Five’ 4- 6- 0 No. 5305 carrying the Clevedon Railway’s logo on the tender. There is alsoaspur to the shed next to the station.
Ironically, Salthouse Fields was the planned destination of a revived section of the legendaryWeston, Clevedon& Portishead Railway by two Bristol enthusiasts in the 1950s.
InMarch1955, theBritish Transport Commission approved the foundation of the North Somerset Light Railway Company, the first private railway company tobe floatedsince
nationalisation, and which aimed to rebuild the section fromWeston to Clevedon to 2ft gauge.
However, the scheme came to nothing, and the locomotive the pair bought– Peckett 0- 4- 2ST No. 1808 of 1930 Septimus – fromDorset’s Furzebrook Railway was scrapped in 1952.
Also reopened after lockdownis nearby Clevedon Pier, the UK’s only Grade I- listed structureof its kind, and which has a railwayhistory.
Whileworking on the Midland Railway main line, civil engineer William HenryBarlow, the designer of St Pancras station, patented hisown designof rail in1849 toovercome the problem of rotten sleepers.
Barlowrail, as it became known, waswidely used on theGWRand
Right: Clevedon Railways battery operated ‘ Black Five’ 4- 6- 0No. 5305 with noticesemphasising thesocial distancing rules that allowedthe 15in- gauge line to startgiving passenger rides aheadof the rest. CR associated lines, and in 1866 engineers John Grover and RichardWardbought 37 tons of redundant Barlowrails whichhad been supplied to Brunel’s SouthWales Railway and used them to build the 1024ft- eight- span pier. The rails were bolted together to form the legs of the elegant 1024ft eight- span pier.