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The Pinewood Miniature Railway Story
Everything has to start somewhere, but probably uniquely, "The Pinewood"
seems to have several beginnings. This is the story of the Pinewood
Miniature Railway, transcribed mainly from the notes and photographs of
Fred Blois a member from the very early days.
The Start
The Pinewood Railway is different to most, in that the railway came before the society that built it! It was in 1983 that the site (which used to be the grounds of a hospital for chest ailments) was first investigated by a small group of railway enthusiasts.
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At that time, it was an overgrown area of scrubland and a few tumbledown
buildings. One of these had been leased by Bracknell Railway Club who
were looking for new premises. There was a very rough and bumpy
concreted area which the original members wanted to use for an ambitious
station and engine shed complex.
The local council however had other ideas, they wanted it to remain as a
car park. A typical British compromise was duly reached and both were
allowed for. Sometimes the problems associated with driving even a
miniature railway through the woodland seemed insurmountable. |
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At one point the workers were warned to "beware of The Hole"
(note caps) somewhere in the undergrowth. It was only later they
discovered just how close they had been to it, when they laid the first
pieces of track.
The story of the viaduct built to cross "The Hole" is an epic in itself.
At the time, the society's total assets were 650 feet of donated dual gauge track, four sit-astride four-wheeled trucks, a Simplex steam locomotive (at that time on loan) but no money to buy bricks.
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However, one of the nearby forestry workers used to be a master bricklayer. When
he heard of the need for bricks for the viaduct he said "Go to the Brick Development Association in Ascot, see {name deleted} and tell him I sent you." "Name Deleted" turned out to be most helpful and asked "How many bricks do you need?" When told "How long is a piece of string?" he led our crew to a field in which there were horses grazing and lots of piles of bricks. "If you can move them, you can have them" he said. They moved them!
The members tried very hard to build the railway within the framework of
the BRC but insurance problems proved to be the final straw. Sitting on
a bench beside the station fence one evening, and after 14 months of
building, the Pinewood Miniature Railway Society was formed. Fred Blois
reports they were eight original members. We think it right to list them
alphabetically. There were Chris Bell, Fred Blois, Colin Charlton, Dave
Curtis, Billy Dwyer, Lee Porteus, Jim Rough and Sid Weedon.
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In July 1983, the very first locomotive ran at Pinewood and on August 22 1983 Pinewood had its very first running day. The track was short, but Blois writes "it was good fun".
By the end of October that year, the inspection pit was dug and by November the
station started to resemble a station. The following period was one of simple hard graft. Blois says, "...it was very difficult ... sleepers needed to be drilled and screwed and this became my main
occupation for many months. Once I woke up in the middle of the night, to find myself trying to put screws into my pillow!"
After eight months, enough track had been made and laid to provide an out and back journey of 650 feet. In January 1984 the final section of the original 800 foot loop was fitted - the first 800 feet of what the society planned to do. Jim Rough performed the "Golden Spike" ceremony late one night with very few onlookers.
During the rest of 1984, much was done to improve the station, but moves were afoot in the local Parish Council. Only enough "jungle" had been removed to accommodate the railway. At the end of January, "Dickie" Dove indicated the Parish Council might allow an extension to the track, through the "jungle" to give a longer run. This coincided with the Council's aim to clean the site up generally and thin out the foliage and trees. When permission came
through, the members took a deep breath and launched in. |
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Over the
next two years, the track was extended and lengthened considerably - to
around two thirds of a mile in fact!
One notable mistake was made; a cutting was dug, taking a working party
three whole days of cutting through tree roots and flint soil.
On inspection, the cutting was considered to be too close to the rear of
a building and therefore dangerous. An eighty foot cutting, three feet
deep, which had taken three days to dig was filled in, in an evening, by
a mechanical digger.
Ballast (the stones on which the track rests) also had to be procured.
Again, luck came Pinewood's way as a call was received at an opportune
moment from Bracknell Railway Club saying they had some to spare. Two
hundred tons of it shortly arrived, for the cost of "a drink"
for the truck driver.
Not only was Pinewood becoming a "proper" miniature railway,
but the ageing of the track and maturing and healing of the freshly dug
cuttings and woodland around it was making it beautiful. The original
promise of a delightful ride through English woodland was coming true. |
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Officially Open
12 April 1986 - a date to remember. Ted Jolliffe, Editor of Model Engineer
Magazine arrived to officially open the full length track. As is often the way in England, the weather was not too bright, but the elation in official recognition of the Pinewood Miniature Railway by those "in the know" made the day bright. Driving a member's steam locomotive,
Ted performed a ceremonial circuit of the track.
"Engineering in Miniature" also featured the railway that year and attendances started to rise.
At this time, Dickie Dove received Honorary Membership of the Society
for all his work with the Parish Council that had smoothed the way for
the railway's construction. |
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The Wind Blows
Was it a Hurricane? If you ask the British Meteorological Office they
will say "No, it was a strong gale." If you ask any resident
of southern England, they will say "Yes". Whatever
it was, October 1987 and its fateful night of 120mph winds will be
remembered by the British for many years to come. We lost
hundreds of thousands of trees, many roofs and hundreds of vehicles
across southern England. Coincidentally, the Meteorological
Office Head Quarters is only a couple of miles from the Pinewood
Railway. Perhaps we should have showed them? These pictures
tell their own story.
Naturally, not only the Pinewood Railway suffered, so did the rest of the country.
The rest of 1987 was spent in sawing, clearing, dragging and rebuilding
and it was well into 1988 before work could start again on improvements |
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From Strength to Strength
Since the hurricane of 1987, we are pleased to report no further major disasters
have occurred. The railway has gone from strength to strength, but in
doing so, it's created it's own operating problems.
The terminus station is picturesque but as the numbers of visitors
increased, so the logistics of using a terminus station became a
problem.
Hitherto, trains would arrive on the arrivals platform, passengers would
disembark and the carriages would be shunted (by hand) and returned to
the departures platform. Meanwhile, the engine was being turned on the
turntable and then run forward across the points and backed onto the
front of the new train. This was time consuming.
Do this with three or four trains in circulation and you have a bottleneck! when
passengers were seen leaving the queue before getting to ride, it was realised something needed to be done. A continuous loop was becoming a necessity, so in 1995 work was started. Whilst doing this, it was
decided to relay the entire railway in new heavier gauge track!
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An enormous debt of gratitude is owed to all members who literally
rebuilt all the railway track work and points from scratch, and
especially to Dave Curtis, whom you might remember, sat against the
fence in 1984 to help form the Society. Dave made goodness knows how
many sleepers (many thousands of them) and assembled hundreds of track
panels for the relaying scheme. A new smaller station has been built,
slightly away from the terminus and passengers can generally ride within
10 minutes of arrival.
On Pinewood Fete Days we usually carry 500 or more passengers.
The smooth operation is testament to the quality of the new track work and the
skill of the locomotive builders and drivers
We hope the Pinewood Story has interested you. If you're down our way, do drop by and take a journey through the woods.
It matters not whether it's winter or summer. In summer, the sunlight through the trees is delightful; on cold winter days, the steam billows around you like a cloud and being pine woods, the trees are green all
year.
Finally, don't forget - you can always become a member and join us! |
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Celebrating 25 Years of running
miniature trains at Pinewood Wokingham...
