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 with his son John, the Third Lord
Gretton following his fathers love of steam and
working with him to develop the line. During the 1970's, the American Berkshire
class steam loco was constructed 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) up the bank from lakeside in the mid 70’s
A drive through Lion reserve and
Zoo were also added later on, 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 treess 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.