On Sunday 16 April, Amberley Museum will host its annual Spring Industrial Trains Day showcasing its collection of trains. Visitors will be offered the opportunity to ride on industrial passenger trains, including the Wickham petrol railcar, and to watch the Road Machines contractor’s monorail system in action.

The Industrial Railway Collection at Amberley Museum in West Sussex has become one of the most important collections of industrial railway equipment in the UK. The collection has an even longer history than the Museum, dating back to the formation of the Brockham collection and acquisitions by the Narrow Gauge Railway Society during the 1950s and 1960s.

Initially the collection at Amberley Museum was envisaged as a small operation, demonstrating typical industrial narrow gauge trains. The first locomotive to arrive on site was the Motor Rail Hibberd 1980/1936, donated to the Museum by Southern Water and previously used at the City of Chichester Sewage Works at Apuldram, to the south of the city.

In 1982, the local Thakeham Tiles company decided to dispense with its short narrow gauge railway in favour of a conveyor belt system. The company donated the entire railway, track, wagons and locos to the Museum on condition that it removed it all over one weekend! It was done. Some of the track, one of the locos and the wagons are still in use at Amberley today. Thakeham Tiles No.4 is Hudson Hunslet 3653/1946. The rear end was rebuilt by Thakeham Tiles to enable the locomotive to enter a low building containing a wagon unloading hopper.

Hudson Hunslet 2208/1941 – Thakeham Tiles No.3 – is also part of the collection. This originally worked at the Trevor Quarry Co in North Wales and after purchase by Thakeham Tiles, received the same cab modifications as No.4.

At first, there were no plans to develop the collection further. However, in 1982 a collection of industrial and narrow gauge items was brought to Amberley from the Brockham Museum’s site near Dorking when the Brockham Museum Trust found itself unable to develop further. With the collection came many interesting locomotives, rolling stock and related items, and the much enlarged collection has become one of the most significant in the UK. It also resulted in the railway collection at Amberley taking a new direction, as it built and operated a passenger-carrying line.

The Brockham collection included two 2ft gauge steam locomotives, Polar Bear and Peter, both at that time in states of disrepair. Both were restored at Amberley. Polar Bear was taken out of service on 29 October 2022 with the expiry of its ten-year boiler certificate and now needs a complete mechanical and boiler overhaul, including retubing and restudding of the boiler and a new main steam pipe. The museum welcomes contributions to the work.

Visitors to Amberley Museum on Sunday 16 April can enjoy seeing these industrial trains in action alongside all the other attractions the museum has to offer, from beautiful nature trails to the South Down Bus collection, a working print shop to historic craftworkers. Please book your tickets in advance at the museum’s website.