About Kirkby Green Light Railway
The only clue to the existence of the Kirkby Green Light Railway is a signal gantry peeping out from above a large hedge on the B1191 road a couple of miles south of Metheringham.
The story began in 1985 when the owner obtained various remnants of three Southern Miniature Railways built locomotives – Victory, Valiant and Vanguard – which had dated from the late 1940s and had run on the south coast at Poole, Southsea and Bognor Regis. In 1987, he began to rebuild them, completing the first in 1991.
As the track began to extend, the premises he occupied at the time in the nearby village of Scopwick proved insufficient, so in 2004, moved to Water Mill Farm.
With the help of volunteers, a massive track development operation began that summer with sleepers and track being laid in five metre lengths through the farmyard, over a stream and out into the fields.
Over the next eight years, the KGLR gained a station with two platforms, two water cranes, bridges, a tunnel, a three-road engine shed and a turntable. Diesel locos – in the shape of BR-style Type 3 No. 37501 and an American-style Santa Fe unit – have also arrived and share the operation on certain days.
At first, the points on the system were changed by hand and signalling was by hand-held flags, but today the piece de résistance is a signalbox, built in 2007 with a magnificent 18-lever frame.
The line is a genuine hidden gem, but please remember that it is on private land and the privacy of the owner must be respected. (the cache is not within private grounds).