Alton Towers Railway - what happened to the locos?

Anonymous · Sun Oct 12, 2008 8:39 pm

I remember from years back that there were once three engines on the railway:

Altonia
Dunrobin
Trentham Express

- and I've seen a picture of "Trentham Express" in bits circa 1997 somewhere behind the scenes at Alton Towers. Does anyone know if it's still there lurking behind some rubbish, or where the other two engines went?

cheers

Tim
Bekonscot Model Village, Bucks

Sun Oct 12, 2008 10:30 pm

I'm pretty postive one of them is definately still in service somwhere. Can't remember where I saw that though. If I can find it I will post again.

Sat Oct 18, 2008 2:46 pm

I'd love to know that as well, they looked fantastic and it'd be a great shame if they were broken up

It'd be such a waste...

Anonymous · Sun Oct 19, 2008 4:56 pm

Thanks - I've now found that all have been preserved elsewhere in Britain; two in Scotland and one in Surrey. Cheers!

Sun Oct 19, 2008 5:28 pm

Care to share where abouts they all are now? The TT page on the railway could do with a bit of a spring clean.

Tue Oct 21, 2008 10:43 pm

Altonia - Private Ownership in Surrey (Would be interested to see its current state, if anyone has any more information)

Trentham Flyer/Dunrobin - Now running at the East Links Family Park

[url=http://www.eastlinks.co.uk" target="_blank]http://www.eastlinks.co.uk[/url]

Trentham Express/Golspie - Now at the Amerton Railway, Still in Bits, awaiting its turn in the railways overhaul queue.

[url=http://www.amertonrailway.co.uk" target="_blank]http://www.amertonrailway.co.uk[/url]

^ Original Info supplied by P. Scott

For any of you who are interested - the book by Peter Scott on the History of the Alton Towers railway is a facinating Read

Ben

Tue Oct 21, 2008 11:15 pm

Didnt even know there was a book that was about the railway!

Interesting!

Tue Oct 21, 2008 11:31 pm

[url=http://www.tinyurl.com/5jebyr" target="_blank]http://www.tinyurl.com/5jebyr[/url]

^ Link to the Google Books Preview.

Really is a facinating read, sadly now out of print, if you are interested in it and a second hand copy comes up, really worth getting.

Ben

Wed Oct 22, 2008 2:13 am

Found one on Amazon but wasnt for sale

Big Dave · Wed Oct 22, 2008 2:53 am

my brothers friend ray worked on them pretty much since they were added. As far as im aware they were removed due to lack of demand as newer transport methods were available and that a train managed to derail causin minor injuries to the riders.

barryzola · Wed Oct 22, 2008 9:27 am

There's a couple of pages about it on my site in my sig if any of you havn't looked at it

[url=http://www.altontowersmemories.net/page8.htm" target="_blank]http://www.altontowersmemories.net/page8.htm[/url]

Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:00 pm

[quote=""Big Dave""]my brothers friend ray worked on them pretty much since they were added. As far as im aware they were removed due to lack of demand as newer transport methods were available and that a train managed to derail causin minor injuries to the riders.[/quote]

I think the actual reason was because of high numbers required to staff the line - 2 Drivers, 2 Guards and a minimum of 4 staff members manning the stations, and because of the high costs involved with maintaining and running the railway.

The incident with the locomotive (Altonia) going into the buffers at the 'Merrie England' end of the line I think was only a minor blemish on the railway's otherwise very good safety record.

(Info from History of Alton Towers Railway - P. Scott)

[quote=""Ash""]Found one on Amazon but wasnt for sale.[/quote]

Best place to look is Ebay, that is generally where they will come up for sale nowadays.

Ben

Big Dave · Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:36 pm

It had a few accidents actually. Mainly involving people falling off the trains and yeah it was fairly expensive to run compared to other forms of transport. Saying that the skyride is just has bad if not worse.

Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:46 pm

Have to take your word for that, I've only heard of people slapping hands as the two trains passed, which was the reason why two train operation stopped, and only one train was allowed to be in motion at any one time, not saying that it didn't happen however.

Ah, but the skyride basically deals with itself, whereas the railway had to be physically driven by two members of staff and is more seceptable to variables such as wet rails and the infamous 'leaves on the line'

Still have to say, that I believe the railway was better than the 'Haunted Hollow', but then the latter is in its early years.

Ben

Sat Oct 25, 2008 11:37 pm

That's great to know! Some nice detailed photos there too. Very well made.

Mon Dec 15, 2008 11:59 pm

Not sure if this is the right place to but this but never mind. How much of the park railway is their left today. I know that the HH is build on part of it. But i know i saw a video on youtube at one point of some buffers in ME now MB are they still there or has it all be riped out now. This is well off topic but Tim do you work at Bekonscot Model Village? I haven't been their in ages. Really need to go some time i was like 7 the last time i went. Has it changed much?

Edit: Tim just been looking on the Bekonscot website. Just found this. ''and has provided further published content for "Bollocks to Alton Towers"'' very disappointed. It also says something about models from Thorpe Park. Are those the old model worlds models?

Wed Dec 17, 2008 12:21 am

[quote=""jonathan leake""]Not sure if this is the right place to but this but never mind. How much of the park railway is their left today. I know that the HH is build on part of it. But i know i saw a video on youtube at one point of some buffers in ME now MB are they still there or has it all be riped out now. [/quote]

Like you say the Haunted Hollow follows the path of the railway, and the buffers and station at the Gloomy Wood end were ripped out to make way for the musical gravestone section.

At the MB end, the station is still standing and is now the Information Kisok for MB. Last time I looked the buffers at that end were still in place behind it, as part of the disabled access for the Flume.

There is an article on TowersTimes which includes pictures of various bits of the railway which were still in place before the Haunted Hollow took over.

Edit: It also says something about models from Thorpe Park. Are those the old model worlds models?

Most of the models that were still at Thrope Park when Model World closed were moved to Bekonscot Model Village. I say most, because I have a feeling there were some issues with the size of some of the models, so they may not have all made. Also, when Model world closed it wa a fraction of the size it once had been, so I'm sure several of the models had been lost over the years.

Tue Sep 29, 2009 2:46 pm

hi
not sure if any one has seen these but there are a couple of photos on this site [url=http://miniaturerailwayphotos.fotopic.net/c1728368.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;]http://miniaturerailwayphotos.fotopic.net/c1728368.html[/url] including on in a snow storm

oldgitBEN · Tue Sep 29, 2009 10:14 pm

thanks for those neon lights! a really good find - if they belong to you why not upload them via the TT picture drop facility upload im sure they would be greatly appreciated.

I wish the train was still there, particularly since the sky ride is down again.

Mon Oct 05, 2009 6:06 pm

With the Haunted Hollow having munched its way over much of the old railway trackbed, is there still anything at all to be seen of the old railway or station at the Mutiny Bay (Ingestre?) end?

EDIT: Ah just looked a few posts up and it seems like there might be, I'll check it out next week...