Knebworth Park and Winter Green Railway

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Knebworth Park and Winter Green Railway
Locale	England
Dates of operation	1972 – 1990
Successor line	abandoned
Track gauge	2 ft (610 mm)
Length	1½ miles
Headquarters	Stevenage

The Knebworth Park and Winter Green Railway was a narrow gauge railway built in the grounds of Knebworth House in 1972 as a tourist attraction.

The railway was built by Pleasurerail Ltd. a private company set up to build and operate private tourist railways. Pleasurerail built the Great Whipsnade Railway and in 1972 they started construction on a 2 ft (610 mm) gauge railway in the grounds of Knewbworth House near Stevenage. The initial line was about a mile in length, running from a station and locomotive shed west of the main house down to a junction where a balloon loop returned trains to their starting point.

During its existence the line hosted a number of steam and diesel locomotives. The line continued to run until 1990 when it was lifted and the remaining stock transferred to other lines

[edit] Locomotives

These are the locomotives that stayed at Knebworth for extended periods. Not all ran there at the same time and the exact dates when they were present are not always known.

Name	Builder	Type	Operating period	Notes
Sezela No. 4	Avonside	0-4-0T	Arrived in 1972	Now at the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway
No. 1	Hunslet	0-4-0ST	Arrived in 1972	Now named Lady Joan and at the Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway
Lilla	Hunslet	0-4-0ST	Arrived in 1972	Now on the Ffestiniog Railway
Triassic	Peckett	0-6-0ST		Now at the Bala Lake Railway
Sezela No. 23	Peckett	4-4-0T		Now at the North Gloucestershire Railway
Sao Domingos	Orenstein & Koppel	0-4-0WT		Now at the Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway
Pedemoura	Orenstein & Koppel	0-6-0WT		Now at the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway after spending many years at the Welsh Highland Railway