A Slow Relaxing Steam Train Ride

War Department Light Railways No 778 is the latest of a long line of locomotive restorations carried out by the Leighton Buzzard Railway. One of 495 built in the USA for service on the supply lines to the First World War trenches, it is the only working survivor of its type in the UK.

The Leighton Buzzard Railway is believed to be the only substantial survivor of the hundreds of 2 foot (610mm) gauge light railways built in Britain for industrial use, and the only remaining line built from surplus materials and equipment from the First World War battlefield supply lines.

Opened by Leighton Buzzard Light Railway Ltd in 1919 to transport sand, the line has carried a steam-hauled passenger train service since 1968, and now houses one of the largest and most important collections of narrow-gauge stock in the country. Both the collection and the railway itself are covered by our Accredited Museum designation.