Great Cockcrow Railway

The Great Cockcrow Railway is a miniature railway located at Lyne, near Chertsey, Surrey, UK.It is open in the summer on sundays.

External links

* http://www.cockcrow.co.uk/

The railway originated in 1946 when John Samuel started construction in the garden of his house,'Greywood', on the Burwood Park estate at walton-on-Thames. With the help of a group of volunteers the Greywood Central Railway developed into one of the foremost of its type in the country until by 1962 a run of 3/4 mile was possible. From the first the line was properly signalled and ultimately worked to a timetable. Samuel's untimely death in 1962 threw the railway's future into doubt but the publisher, Ian Allan, purchased the line and, with the assistance of most of the GCR volunteers, many of whom are still involved, moved it to its present site at Hardwick Lane, Chertsey. It reopened to the public on 14th September 1968 under the new name Great Cockcrow Railway, taken from Cockcrow Hill which rises on its south side. Prototypical working remains the key to the railway's operation with both semaphore and colour-light signals controlled by three signalboxes located at the two termini and the main intermediate station. Two different route are offered to the public, both running to about 1 1/4 miles. A named train, 'The Gladesman', operates once each working afternoon at 5 pm, covering both routes. There are presently about 25 steam engines and four i/c locomotives in the stud, all owned by individual members of the operating team. Six or seven can usually be seen on operating days.The railway is open to the public each Sunday afternoon between 1.45 and 5.30 from the end of April to the end of October.