Southwold Railway Steamworks

The Project

Planning consent was granted in 2016 for a Visitor Centre, Railway and Nature Reserve on the old Gas Works site in Blyth Road, Southwold IP18 6AZ. The plan shows the Southwold Railway Steamworks project includes a Visitor Centre building with cafe, shop, toilets, museum and engine shed, plus 11 chains of three foot gauge track, including a run parallel and close to the site of the original track as it approached Southwold Station.  The project includes a 7¼ inch gauge miniature railway running around the site plus parking for blue badge holders. We would like to encourage visitors to Steamworks to walk either along Blyth Road or across the Common. The 99, 99A and 146 bus services stop Mon to Sat at the end of Blyth Road on Station Road. There are various signposted car parks in Southwold. Visitors will find over a quarter mile of track, in two gauges, set in a landscaped Nature Reserve containing ponds, wild flower meadow and woodland. On the 30th March 2017 the Trust completed the purchase of the site in Blyth Road.   By August, the first part (about a third) of the building was broadly complete, with Peckett “Scaldwell” and Motor Rail “Mells” inside. By the end of 2019 phases two and three were largely complete, meaning  Van 40 and Wagon 41 are also there, whilst three donated Royal Naval underframes are lined up, awaiting transformation into further items of replica rolling stock. (see details of our “Heritage Train Project” for further details.) Whilst the portable building initially provided the shop and office, the third section of our new building now houses a purpose-built cafe and our shop is housed, with a model railway display, in an air-conditioned container a very short walk from the station platform.  The (7.25″) Blyth Valley Light Railway runs in a circuit around the site, with a roster of one battery electric and two steam locomotives offering rides from our canopied ‘miniature’ station.  Roger G’s Midland Railway van provides tool storage, and an interesting contrast with our own Van 40, of very similar construction, whilst the 3′ gauge Cleminson coach from the Manx Northern Railway and a 3′ gauge tramcar trailer from Belgium are at present static exhibits, and are awaiting full restoration.  Tracklaying for the three-foot has been completed within the confines of the site giving us an 80 yard demonstration line upon which Blyth will operate. Various works on the site are regularly undertaken and for those who have visited us before, there will often be much progress evident- and if you haven’t visited us before, we look forward to the opportunity to welcome you to Steamworks.  You can help us continue to develop this project by donating through Paypal: