SCARBOROUGH’S MINIATURE RAILWAY
The North Bay Railway, which opened in 1931, is one of the few railways in the country not to be nationalised.
Situated in the Northstead Manor Gardens, this 20" gauge railway is seven-eight’s of a mile long with all the features of a full sized railway including a tunnel, bridges, signals, stations and gradient boards reproduced to scale.
The railway is operated with two trains; each pulled by a Pacific type locomotive based on the famous L.N.E.R. designs of Sir Nigel Gresley and names ‘Triton’ and ‘Neptune’. They were built by Hudswell Clark Ltd of Leeds, an equally famous manufacturer of full size railway engines. Although they have a steam out-line, the locomotives were refurbished in the spring of 1999 and are now powered by a Poclain H20 pump and a M505 motor. The control a forward/reverse switch, the driver operating a throttle powers the pump and motor which via a chain onto the centre pair of wheels moves the locomotive. It is impossible to start the locomotive with a jerk as in the case of a clutch/gear drive.
Each locomotive pulls five coaches, which together can carry 100 passengers in reasonable comfort. Each coach has two four-wheeled bogies and is 24’6".
The coach bogies are built up in standard main-line practice; with spring buffers and screw couplings and the unladen weight is two tons. The wheels are of chilled iron, or cast steel. The frames are as near as possible scale models of the frames of 50’ main line coaches. The original wooden seats were replaced with fibreglass ones between 1966 and 1968, more recently all the coaches were completely refurbished for the 1998 season.
An accident on the line in 1932, which cost the driver his life, led to an enquiry resulting in new safety regulations for light railways operating in Britain.
The railway is controlled by a tablet system, with loop lines for passing. This system was installed by the Railway Signal Company Ltd. of Liverpool in 1933. In 1948 brake safety gear, to work in conjunction with the tablet system, was introduced.
The design and construction of the railway was carried out by Mr. H.W. Smith, A.M.I.C.E., who was Borough Engineer of Scarborough in1930. In 1977 extensive alterations were carried out at Scalby Mills to introduce an island platform together with electrically operated signal lights and barriers.
The popularity of the North Bay Railway with both children and their parents is evidenced by the more than half million passengers that the railway carries each year. The railway provides ideal transport for those wishing to visit the Sealife Centre and the new themed golf development in the North Bay.