Sutton Miniature Railway

The SMR was first opened in Sutton Park by the company Miniature railways of Great Britain Limited in 1907, and ran for a distance of 210 yards (190 m).^[2]

For its first season the railway used a smaller 10 1/4" gauge and a small locomotive Nipper. Popularity of the line grew with its association with the adjacement amusement park known locally as the 'Crystal Palace'. In 1908 the railway was rebuilt to a 15" gauge, and extended to 410 yards (370 m) with run-round loops at each end^[2]. The new layout ran a new locomotive, 'Mighty Atom', built by Messrs. Basset Lowke at their Northampton Works. 'Mighty Atom' pulled three 12-seater bogie open coaches on this line up until 1914. The outbreak of World War I led to a temporary closure of the SMR. Some time after 1914 the locomotive 'Mighty Atom' was sold for use elsewhere but it did return to Sutton in 1938^[2]. After WWI the railway did eventually reopen in around 1921-22, but this was short lived and by 1925 the site was unused and had started to become derelict^[2].

Around 1937 a Mr Pat Collins acquired another miniature railway The Great Yarmouth Railway and moved it to Sutton in 1938. At this time the track was extended into a longer approximately 2,000 yards (1,800 m) ballon loop, and services resumed with the locomotive The Prince of Wales, being the renamed Mighty Atom from its time at Great Yarmouth^[2]. The Great Yarmouth purchase also included 3no. coverered coaches, built in 1931. These were historically a railcar originally built by Parkinsons for the Yarmouth Miniature Railway. It was a novel petrol-electric design comprising a 2-coach set powered by an Austin 7 petrol car engine, in turn driving a 6 kW electric generator, in turn powering 2no. 2.5 hp electric traction motors. When purchased by the SMR in 1937 the powered set was converted to ordinary "dumb" coaching stock^[1].

In 1948 SMR was acquired by Mr T.G.Hunt, and various changes and improvements were instigated by him at that time to the track, workshops, and station buildings^[3]. In the 1950's three further covered coaches were built, to the same design as the "Parkinson" 2-car rail-car set, and 4no. open coaches "toast-rack" open carriages, all built by Hunt Brothers^[1].

The SMR's heyday was the 1950's, combined with the adjacent amusement park the trains were extremely popular. In one particularly busy bank holiday, the track and trains transported over 12,000 people in a single day^[1]. Unfortunately, with the lease on the amusement park expiring, the fortunes and fate of the SMR was intertwined, and it closed in 1962, with all trains, carriages, track and equipment being put into store

Current locomotives in the SMR collection:

• Sutton Belle was built between 1912 and 1933 by Douglas Clayton and his Company the Cannon Ironfoundries. It is based upon drawings and castings supplied by messrs Basset-Lowke. It first ran on a private railway at Clayton's home, Harwick Manor, near Tewkesbury. Douglas Clayton as it was then named, was acquired for the SMR in 1948. It received major rebuilds in 1949 and 1953. After SMR closed, Sutton Belle was kept in store for 40 years, and was eventually acquired by Cleethorpes Light Railway Supporters Association in 2002, and finally returned to steam by the Engineering Department of Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway in 2003^[5].

• Sutton Flyer was commenced by Douglas Clayton in 1938, using all new drawings and patterns. It was completed by a T.G.Hunt and entered service at SMR in 1952. After SMR closed, Sutton Flyer was kept in store for 40 years, and was eventually acquired by Cleethorpes Light Railway Supporters Association in 2002, and returned to in 2002^[5].

• No.4 Petrol Railcar "Dudley" was built in 1946 by G & S Light Engineering in Stourbridge as a Bo-Bo petrol engine railcar (in the form of a GWR design) for the Dudley Zoo Miniature Railway, and was acquired by the Sutton Miniature Railway in 1957. It is powered by a 20 hp, six-cylinder Morris Commercial petrol engine. Currently undergoing engine restoration at Tyseley^[5].

Locomotives which have worked on the SMR:

• Nipper; (0-4-4) In 1903, Henry Greenly, was approached by George Flooks and Fred Smithies of the London Society of Model Engineers with a proposal to build a 10¼” gauge model steam locomotive for a track in Bricket Wood, St.Albans. Nipper ran there for one year in 2004, before being purchased by Mr Basset Lowke and moved to another site at Abington Park, Northampton. That circuit only lasted a few years before another location need to be found, being Sutton Park. After running at Sutton for one year in 1907, the gauge was increased and Nipper was sold on, now believed to be in private collection in the north of England^[2].
• The Mighty Atom, The Prince of Wales (4-4-2) built by messrs. Basset Lowke at their Northampton Works in 1907^[2]. Currently resides at Rhyl Minature Railway, in preservation as of 2009 and awaiting restoration^[6].