In the entrance to the Alton Towers chapel there used to be a
miniature railway. It opened in 1957 and was built by a chap called Aubrey Bentley who ran it as a business,
when everything had a separate admission charge. His son Alan took
it over in 1964.
With 35
locomotives hauling more than 200 items of rolling stock. The track
was over 500 metres long, with dozens of signals, lights, trees,
bushes as well as stations, bridges, houses and lakes. The
electrical circuitry was made from 16km of electric wiring.
It covered an area of 51feet by 16 feet, it took two men two and a half years to build, working an average of 16hours a day. Over 100 gallons of water circulated through its rivers and lakes. With over 3000 trees, 400 lights and 70 coloured signals it was one of the highlights of the day.
In 1993 when the chapel was being restored the railway was removed from the park when it was removed it was sold at auction.
