Miniature Railway

Yarmouth Beach Amusements Ltd., the company operating Pleasure Beach at the time, applied to the council in 1912 for permission to install a miniature railway. This was to run from Pleasure Beach along South Beach to the harbour mouth, with terminus stations at each end. Whilst merit in this idea was seen by some, others were unhappy with the number of amusements already on South Beach (three at the time), and didn’t want any more, especially if this was to encroach on other parts of the sea front. Accusations were made that the company tried to canvass members of the council, which did not go down well and permission was refused. 

When the Collins' took on the lease of Pleasure Beach for the 1929 season, plans for a miniature railway were revived by John Collins. In July 1930, the Council permitted construction of a railway at Pleasure Beach on the proviso it be removed with a weeks notice if required. A 15-inch narrow gauge railway was built to the design of engineer Richard Marion Parkinson. The railway featured a grand, albeit suitably miniature sized booking office on a station with two platforms called South Denes. The fully-signalled railway ran from the station alongside South Beach Parade before looping north opposite Harbord Crescent, dropping down a gradient of 1:80, through a 100ft (30m) long tunnel dug into the sand dunes, and up a gradient of 1:72 back to the station. The total length of the railway was 1800ft (550m).

A variety of locomotives worked trains on the railway. The main locomotive was a Bassett-Lowke Class 10 Atlantic steam locomotive, built in 1908 and originally called Mighty Atom, it was later renamed Prince of Wales. Coaches were replicas of bow-sided vehicles common at the time, and featured decorative corridor connections. Diesel locomotives also worked on the railway from time to time, including one named Mighty Atom which was powered by an Austin Seven engine. Excellent footage of the railway and this train can be seen in the video below, an extract from an Austin promotional video. 

Parkinson requested permission to extend the railway to the harbour in 1935. The Council refused, seemingly for the same reasons they did over two decades earlier. The railway closed following the 1937 season and no trace remains. The rolling stock went to the Collins’ Crystal Palace Amusement Park in Sutton Coldfield for use on that park’s miniature railway. The locomotive Prince of Wales now resides at the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway. 

Only one other miniature railway would operate in Great Yarmouth. A narrow gauge railway called News Chronical opened at Wellington Pier Gardens in August 1946. It operated from Whitsun until September each year until 1949. 

South Denes station of the Yarmouth Miniature Railway. A Basset-Lowke Class 10 Atlantic locomotive, named Prince of Wales, shunts coaches. The large (for a miniature railway) signal gantry stands overhead. Railway engineer Richard Parkinson insisted on a fully signalled railway, operated from South Denes Junction Signal Box.

South Denes station of the Yarmouth Miniature Railway, left of centre in this image from 1932. The booking office was elevated, possibly to provide a shed for storage of the locomotives, and accessed via a covered ramp. The tall ride right of centre is called Jack & Jill, and was essentially a slide, although riders used moving chairs akin to a stair lift to reach the top. The Scenic Railway stands in the background. 

This image was taken from a footbridge built over the railway when the Scenic Railway was constructed in 1932, which provided another access between South Beach Parade and the park. Some of the railway's signals and a steam locomotive can be seen.

Some of the coaches of the Miniature Railway can be seen in this image from 1932.

The location of the Miniature Railway.

Basset-Lowke locomotive Mighty Atom/Prince of Wales in 2019. Credit: Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway.