Many of you are conversant with the South Arbury Railway.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the latest updates

 Garratt Sunday - June 2007. Mick Browns NGG16 awaits it's turn of duty in New Chesterton Yard at the South Arbury Railway. 

The railway was first opened in 2001 with the main goal of producing a running line for large Garratt type locomotives & lengthy trains to be put through their paces.

The line served us well untill last year when we purchased the garden next door. The last train ran on that railway in 2008 before changes started to take place.

Currently, the line is being rebuilt to take in all of the new land & will emerge a much larger & more challenging railway than before! More tunnels, more bridges, more gradients, more spirals, more waterfalls along with easier curves - it has to be worth waithing for!!

We were originally looking for an October 2009 opening, but that date just whizzed by.

Work on the line is slow, but steady so things are progressing.

Looking forward to the re-opening in 2010!!

So - watch this page for details of the date, updates will appear as the work progresses...

 The start of the end...

The first bridge was taken out in 2008. This view is looking towards the bottom end of the land with the exsisting garden on the right (you can see the other line on the far right) & the new part on the left.

Update - 14th September 2010

Work is way behind schedule at the moment, but still continues!

The track & trackbed you see in the last photo above have now completely gone as have the hedge that the railway ran alongside & all the trees & vegitation to the left.

The new track bed is taking shape, but unfortunatly heavy rain & a last minute change of track plan forced us to delay the opening which we'd hoped would have taken place over the August 2010 Bank Holiday Weekend. The new date has still to be confirmed, but will be announced here & in 'Sixteen Millimetre Today' magazine.

Update - 21st August 2011

The 10th Anniversary of the South Arbury Railway at Waterbeach will be held on the 10th September 2011.

All types & makes of 16mm scale locos & rolling stock are welcome.

The times are midday until 6pm.

Please email or call Chris & Eileen to confirm attendance. 

Update - 19th Nov 2011

The 2011 'Great South Arbury Steam Festival' will be held on Sunday 11th December.

 All types & makes of 16mm scale locos & rolling stock are welcome.

The times are midday until 6pm.

Please call or email Chris or Eileen to confirm attendance.

Update - 1st January 2012

Open day dates for 2012 have just been finalised!

The all important 'Garratt Sunday' will be on 17th June this year.

As well as a lengthy, double track, level circuit - there is also a  single track, double spiral line with curves of around 7ft radius on gradients of approximatly 1 in 50 - ideal for double headed Garratts on lengthy trains... 

Other open days will be as follows;

22nd April - 'Bertie-Fest' for all the Roundhouse 'Bertie' class fanatics

8th September - 'Darjeeling Day', speaks for itself

9th Dec - 'The Great South Arbury Steam Festival', the winter steam spectacular.

We aim to keep to the themed days, but if you don't have a loco of the days theme, just bring along whatever you have & run - getting together & steaming is what it's all about!

Please call or email us before the day to confirm attendance - even if you have been before, thank you.