Welcome to the SMR History page of the
FSMR site.
Celebrating our golden jubilee year in 2008
1958-2008
The railway began life back on
He saw an advertisement and
purchased second hand, two David Curwen
The line was extended in autumn
1958 and opened to the lakeside on 3rd may 1959. The first
train to the lake being hauled by
By the end of the 1961 season,
passenger numbers had trebled to 21,355. With the railway at full capacity now,
a relief train was required for peak periods. This was provided by David
Curwen, designing and building at Curwen and Newbury, a model of a Western
region Warship Diesel Hydraulic Loco. This used a Ford petrol engine driving a
mechanical drive through fluid clutch. The new loco went into service during may 1962 and with 6 new coaches, proved to be very popular.
Then during a cruise aboard the
Shaw Saville Line SS "Southern Cross", The
Second Lord Gretton had the idea of having a scale model of a liner constructed
to carry passengers on the lake. This would be combined with the railway ride
to the Haven terminus at lakeside. Visitors had long asked for the chance to
hire boats on the lake, but this was deemed difficult to administer and police.
The liner would solve this problem, and add to the railways operational
interest. The replica of SS "Northern Star" Was constructed by Curwen
and Newbury and made her maiden voyage on the Stapleford park lake on
Miniature SS Northern
Star 1963
A great website for the full size Northern Star liner can be found
at
The sister ship SS "Southern
Cross" arrived in June 1968, and the pair at the time, were the
largest scale passenger carrying liners in the world, being 45 feet long and 8
feet in beam.
The
Second Lord Gretton (centre) with Mr H.A. Marshall, Commodore (left) and Mr C.S
Birch, Master of the Northern
Star with the newly
arrived Southern Cross in 1968
One of the two liners departs
lakeside for a trip around the lake while the other prepares to dock
These were the largest scale passenger carrying boats in the world
during their time at Stapleford.
One of the two liners Southern Cross departs lakeside for a trip around the lake. The railway runs up to
the hill to house along the right.
The railway continued to develop and became a well known tourist
attraction
A drive through Lion reserve and Zoo were also added in the early
60’s.
During the late 60s and 70s the
line continued to expand and with his son John, the Third Lord Gretton following
his fathers love of steam the American Berkshire class steam loco was
constructed on contract at the Stapleford Works to cope with the heavy lakeside
trains, more passenger stock was constructed, and a tunnel added near to the
top of the bank by the house.
John O Gaunt (now named John H Gretton) and Blanche Of Lancaster double head a train up from lakeside in the early 70’. Blanche was sold and now operates at the Trago
Mills shopping centre railway in
Later on, the line was extended
from the lakeside Haven to run around in a balloon circuit via the lakeside to
return over the river to the Haven via a sprung point (The railway used to run
opposite to the current direction, which now crosses the river first). A simple
halt was also built in the Chestnuts picnic area of the loop, called
"Chestnuts"!
The third Lord Gretton, the late John H Gretton brings the Curwen Green “John O Gaunt”( now
renamed after him) down the bank to lakeside in the mid 70’s
and the current
station, then called the car park was also constructed and visitors would park
near the zoo and catch a train to the Central station and House. They could
then get a different one to the Haven and lakeside circuit.
The third Lord Gretton, the late John H Gretton brings in the Curwen
Green “John O Gaunt (now renamed after him) to the new car park station circa
1979. The signal box now sits on the triangle to the left of the loco
The Second Lord Grettons death in 1982 saw the Estate and railway closed to
the Public at the end of that season, the Third Lord Gretton putting the
railway into safe storage. The house was sold in 1985, and is now owned by a
consortium and run one
of the countries top sporting hotels.
However, the railway and Estate
remained within the Gretton family and almost everything remained untouched.
Sadly, the Third Lord Grettons untimely death in 1989 appeared to spell the death
knoll of the railway, but his dreams were never forgotten by a small group of
enthusiasts connected with the original operations, who later in the 90’s
formed the FSMR in order to restore and preserve the railway.
Box tunnel portal after closure. The trees above the tunnel were all removed
during the total rebuilding of the tunnel by the FSMR prior to public reopening
in 1995 but the craftsman built stonework on Box portal was carefully rebuilt
Follow the link for the story of how the SMR was restored.
For history on the FSMR and how the railway was restored click
here.