REVIVAL

The 'Dark Ages'

It is not recorded when the original New Herrington Light Railway ceased operations but it is believed to have been during the second half of the 1980s. The stock went into storage where it remained until 2000 when it was finally sold as a single lot including all locomotives, rolling stock and much of the track which had been lifted at that stage.



The less permanent ground level sections of the track bed were removed as the garden developed and 'matured'. The substantial concrete structure remained in position as far as it did not interfere with garden plans. All cuttings and significant features of the line, i.e. Ashbroom Halt, Rugeley Bridge, Beech Bridge and the entire Herrington Junction with its operating area were lost completely. Remarkably one of the most attractive features of the original line, the length of raised track bed and its double arches east of Ashbroom Halt, have survived and can be seen alongside the recently constructed new railway.

Nature Reclaims the Line

The Forgotten Years

In the early 1990s the garden underwent a complete redesign which saw it roughly divided into several rectangular areas separated by gravel paths and lines of shrubs. The possibility of a railway on the scale of the original NHLR became increasingly unlikely. A half-hearted attempt was made to encircle one of the garden areas with a single track on timber uprights and decks. Although an Accucraft Edrig did run on this several times the line was not a great success and quickly fell into disuse.

One of the few parts of the second NHLR which stood the test of time, a bridge crossing the central path in the garden. Sadly the bridge hardly saw a single loco in its ten years existence.

THE NEW HERRINGTON LIGHT RAILWAY

Version 2

Note the grid pattern of paths and lawns which subdivided the garden resulting in the removal of some features of the original NHLR

Revival

In 2009 a combination of circumstances brought about the germination of an idea to resurrect the NHLR. After much consideration a plan emerged which would see the complete redesign and development of the garden incorporating a new railway roughly following the line of the original NHLR. The main difference would be that the new line would be at a higher level. It would run between 15cm and 60cm above ground level hence avoiding cuttings but providing ample opportunities for bridges, one of the main purposes of the new line. 

The rebuilding of the New Herrington Light Railway is comprehensively illustrated