Blue mood for Ruislip sleepers

The 12in gauge Ruislip Lido Railway has marked its spare sleeper stock with blue paint to discourage thefts.

Informed that some of its sleepers were being sold locally for use in garden features, the railway then discovered that sleepers had been thrown over its boundary fence, presumably by thieves who intended to retrieve them later.

An audit confirmed that sleepers were missing from stock and the remainder were marked with blue paint as a precaution.

The railway dates from 1946 and has been run by a support society since 1980. Under society management the line has been extended to just over a mile in length and its track relaid with heavier materials.

It has a half-size, oil-fired Hunslet 2-4-0STT based on the Ffestiniog Railway’s Blanche, named Mad Bess, and built in the railway’s own workshop.