page_title: West Lancashire Light Railway
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: West Lancashire Light Railway / History
caption_attribution_description: 0-4-0 2 ft gauge steam locomotive built by Orenstein &amp; Koppel in 1913 at the West Lancashire Light Railway near Preston, Lancs, England
context_page_description: The West Lancashire Light Railway is a 2 ft narrow gauge railway that operates at Hesketh Bank, situated between Preston and Southport in North West England. The distance between the stations on the railway is 430 yards, though track extends eastwards beyond Delph station on ledge above the old clay pit which is too narrow to contain a run round loop. An extension of up to 435 metres, running along the north bank of the fishing lake has been proposed. The railway has eight steam locomotives, four of which are in operating condition; one is currently being restored and another is on static display. There are also two electric locomotives and many IC locomotives.
context_section_description: The West Lancashire Light Railway was started in 1967, by six railway enthusiast schoolboys from the Hesketh Bank area. They wanted to save the narrow gauge railway equipment which was disappearing from local industries. They leased a strip of land above the clay pits at Alty's Brickworks and started laying track using rails from the former clay tramways and rough timbers as sleepers.
  Two Ruston and Hornsby diesel locomotives were acquired from Burscough Brick & Tile Co. one with a 13 hp engine, the other a 20 hp model, they were respectively named Clwyd and Tawd. Clwyd was the first locomotive to run on the railway in 1969. These two locos were soon joined by more industrial diesels and the first home-built items of rolling stock.
  At first, trains were operated on a "travel at your own risk" basis. The first formal timetable was issued in 1971.
  In 1970, the railway acquired an incomplete set of parts of 1903 Quarry Hunslet steam locomotive Irish Mail, from Dinorwic slate quarry in North Wales. The major missing component was a boiler. Members of the WLLR retrieved the remains of Quarry Hunslet Alice from one of the upper levels of Dinorwic. Alice's boiler was retained at the WLLR and the rest sold to the Bala Lake Railway. Over the next decade the railway re-assembled Irish Mail and the locomotive was steamed for the first time in 1980.
  The running line slowly grew in length until it ran from Becconsall to a station known as Asland, which is no longer the far terminus of the line. The line in its present form runs from Becconsall to Delph, with the original track to Asland running on from Delph but not suitable for running engines.
  In 2015, the WLLR hosted a gala to celebrate the 100th. anniversary of its Joffre class Kerr Stuart locomotive. A second Joffre class locomotive, No. 3014, attended from Apedale Valley Light Railway. This was the first time that two WWI-era Joffre locomotives had been in steam together in preservation.
caption: Montalban built in 1913 being serviced and watered
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