Beeches Light Railway

File:2019-05-19-Jeremy-Davey-Adrian-Shooter-Darjeeling-19B-Beeches.jpg (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.{{cite web |url=https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2019/02/private-steam-railway-set-for-closure.html |publisher=RailAdvent |title=Private steam railway set for closure |date=12 February 2019 |first=Michael |last=Holden}}{{cite web |publisher=The Railway Magazine |title=Beeches Light Railway moving to new site |date=6 March 2019 |first=Nigel|last=Devereux|url=https://www.railwaymagazine.co.uk/8954/beeches-light-railway-moving-to-new-site/ }}{{cite report|url=https://planningregister.cherwell.gov.uk/Document/Download?module=PLA&recordNumber=141223&planId=1557793&imageId=16&isPlan=False&fileName=Heritage%20Assessment%281%29.pdf|title=Conclusion|first1=Samuel|last1=Davis|author2=Heritage Collection|work=Heritage Assessment The Beeches, Steeple Aston|date=2019-07-30|number=4803|publisher=Cherwell District|pages=18, 26|quote=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.}}

• {{cite web |title=Planning Application - 20/00964/OUT |date=2021-07-16 |url=https://planningregister.cherwell.gov.uk/Planning/Display/20/00964/OUT |website=Cherwell District Council}}{{cite report|url=https://planningregister.cherwell.gov.uk/Document/Download?module=PLA&recordNumber=141223&planId=16357&imageId=26357&isPlan=True&fileName=Indicative%20Layout%20372A01-101_C%281%29.pdf|title=Indicative Layout|date=2019-07-26|number=372A01–101–C|type=plan|series=The Beeches, Steeple Aston|author=Malcolm Payne Group|publisher=Cherwell District|quote=Existing buildings/structures to be removed}} {{As of|December 2022}} the railway remained in situ, but was dismantled in the months following, after Adrian Shooter's death. The house, including the station building and sheds were put up for sale in 2023.{{cite report|url=https://assets.savills.com/properties/GBBARSBAS180113/BAS180113_RPT23091422.PDF|title=The Beeches|author=Savills|author-link=Savills|format=brochure|quote=Guide Price £2,250,000 … two generous steel frame corrugated metal sheds with full height double doors to one end, one with a full inspection pit … A railway station (replica of one on the Darjeeling/Himalayan railway line), … with four sets of double doors to the platform/terrace and paddock … brochure prepared July 2023}}

The nearly {{convert|1|mi|km|1}} railway track with a gauge of {{RailGauge|2ft|lk=on}} was built between 2002 and 2004.{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/Love-for-Darjeeling-toy-train-makes-Briton-buys-off-worlds-oldest-surviving-locomotive/articleshow/42820938.cms|title=Love for Darjeeling toy train makes Briton buys off world's oldest surviving locomotive|work=Times of India|date=18 September 2014|access-date=13 January 2016|first=Kounteya|last=Sinha|quote=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}} 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.Ian Mansfield: [http://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2011/07/10/a-visit-to-a-private-steam-railway-in-a-back-garden/ The Beeches Light Railway – a private steam railway]. Uploaded on 10 July 2011. Retrieved on 19 February 2016.

File:Beeches Light Railway (geograph 4111678).jpg

The railway's primary motive power, a DHR B Class No. 778,{{cite web|url=http://dhrs.org/page20.html|title=One of the original "B Class" Sharp Stewart Steam Locomotive Comes Home.|work=Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society|access-date=25 February 2014}}{{cite news|url=http://felixonline.co.uk/news/1727/interview-adrian-shooter/|title=Interview: Adrian Shooter|first=Alice|last=Yang|date=11 November 2011|access-date=25 February 2014|work=Felix Online}} was built by Sharp, Stewart & Company in 1888, works number 3518. 778 was built for India's Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.{{irs-el |el=16 |page=172}} where it ran until either 1960 or 1962, when it was sold to Elliot Donnelley, a railway enthusiast in the US,The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society: [http://dhrs.org/page84.html DHR B class Number 19 celebrates its 120th Birthday.] 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, where it stayed until it was bought by Adrian Shooter in 2002 and restored to working order.

Two modern replicas of the carriages used on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway were occasionally used to transport invited guests.{{cite news|url=http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/8192243.Rail_boss_with_a_special_train_set/|title=Rail boss with a special train set|first=Dan|last=Hearn|date=28 May 2010|work=Oxford Mail|quote=three-acre estate at Steeple Aston, near Bicester.|access-date=10 December 2015}}{{cite news|url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/bibek-debroy-locomotive-number-778-116010100863_1.html|title=Locomotive number 778|first=Bibek|last=Debroy|date=1 January 2016|work=Business Standard|location=India|quote=owns Beeches Light Railway. Indeed, it operates out of his residence in Steeple Aston, Oxfordshire.}}{{cite news|url=http://forbesindia.com/article/play/an-indian-relic-in-oxfordshire/38383/0|title=An Indian Relic in Oxfordshire|date=14 August 2014|access-date=13 January 2015|work=Forbes India|first=Anuradha|last=Sharma|quote=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.}} These carriages were commissioned from Boston Lodge works, to accompany the locomotive.{{cite book|url=http://www.festrail.co.uk/ebrochures/pdf/bl_portfolio.pdf|title=New Build - Darjeeling Himalaya Railway Carriages|pages=9, 11|first=R|last=Dimmick|work=Boston Lodge Engineering|publisher=Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways|format=brochure|date=4 May 2012|access-date=10 December 2015|archive-date=5 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305135714/http://www.festrail.co.uk/ebrochures/pdf/bl_portfolio.pdf}}{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Oldest-toy-train-chugs-through-British-garden/articleshow/42833537.cms|title=Oldest toy train chugs through British garden|work=Times of India|date=19 September 2014|access-date=13 January 2016|first=Kounteya|last=Sinha|quote=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.}}{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/A-Darjeeling-joyride-in-a-British-garden/articleshow/42953459.cms|title=A Darjeeling joyride in a British garden|work=Times of India|date=20 September 2014|access-date=13 January 2016|first=Kounteya|last=Sinha}}

File:Beeches Light Railway - interesting vehicle (geograph 4111684).jpg

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 on the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad. The replica was commissioned from the Statfold Barn Railway.{{cite news|url=http://www.rail.co.uk/rail-news/2015/lbr-anything-goes/|work=rail.co.uk|title=July fun for all the family on the rails!|date=27 May 2015|access-date=13 January 2016|quote=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}} 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.Chris Allen: [https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4111684 Beeches Light Railway - interesting vehicle.] The Geograph No 4111684.

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.

On 1 July 2018 the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society celebrated its twentieth anniversary at the line. Two visiting locomotives were in steam: W. G. Bagnall 0-4-0ST Woto, and Baguley 0-4-0T Rishra (formerly of a Kolkata (Calcutta) water works in India).{{cite web|url=https://www.railwaymagazine.co.uk/6462/darjeeling-society-marks-its-20th-anniversary-at-beeches/|title=Darjeeling society marks its 20th anniversary at Beeches|department=News|work=The Railway Magazine|first=Sam|last=Hewitt|date=2018-08-15|access-date=2024-06-20|publisher=Mortons Media|quote=Bagnall 0-4-0ST Woto worked a train of replicated DHR goods stock, while Baguley 0-4-0T Rishra steamed back and forth along the station loop line; a wheel profile incompatibility with the station turnouts preventing running on the main line circuit.}}

{{As of|March 2023}}, after Adrian Shooter's death, the {{convert|1|mile|km}} of track, plus rolling stock from the railway were auctioned for sale in June 2023.{{cite web|url=https://www.hjpugh.com/catalogue/15F99588D598E2B15425039C1D5224CF/the-beeches-light-railway-dispersal-sale-of-the-late-well-re/|title=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|access-date=2023-03-28|work=Upcoming auctions|publisher=H. J. Hugh|location=Ledbury}} The winning bid for 778 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.{{cite web |title=Home |url=https://www.darjeelingtank.org.uk |website=Darjeeling Tank |access-date=8 October 2023 |language=en}}

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Category:Rail transport in Oxfordshire

Category:2 ft gauge railways in England