Metropolitan Water Board Railway

Metropolitan Water Board Railway
Locale	England
Dates of operation	1916–1946
Successor	abandoned
Track gauge	2 ft  (610 mm)
Length	3 miles (4.8 km)
Headquarters	London

The Metropolitan Water Board Railway was a narrow gauge industrial railway built to serve the Metropolitan Water Board's pumping station at Kempton Park near London. The line was opened in 1916 and closed shortly after the Second World War.

History

In 1903, three private water companies in and around London came under the control of the newly formed Metropolitan Water Board. Included was the pumping station at Kempton, three miles from the River Thames at Hampton. The Kempton engine houses contained a set of massive steam engines that drove the pumps which together consumed about 110 tons of coal a day. The cost of transporting and handling this amount of coal from the wharves at Hampton to the Kempton pumping station was significant.

A narrow gauge railway was proposed to ease the cost of supplying the Kempton engines. Construction had begun by May 1914 and by the end of 1915 the railway was ready to be opened.

Coal was brought to Hampton by barge, loaded into a large hopper by a high level crane, and then taken by the railway, in tipper wagons, to the pumping houses.

Motive power was provided by three steam locomotives, built by Kerr Stuart & Co Ltd. These were 0-4-2T side-tank engines, named: Hampton, Kempton and Sunbury. They were painted a lined dark green livery, with much polished brasswork, including the prominent dome cover. Photographs indicate that the engines were maintained in immaculate condition.^[1]

The railway fulfilled its function until after the Second World War when, after a working life of 32 years, the quantity of coal transported fell dramatically and it was decided to shut the railway down. The locomotives were scrapped and most of the track was removed in 1947, although some was covered over to form a new roadway and is still in situ in 2006.

The Metropolitan Water Board Railway Society was formed with a view to the complete restoration of the line, to provide a visitor attraction and an alternative means of transport to the Kempton Park Great Engines.

Kew Bridge Steam Museum

The historic steam pumping station and museum at Kew Bridge features an extensive display of photographs and some artefects from the Metropolitan Water Board Railway. The museum's own steam railway, which was inspired by the Hampton to Kempton Park line, incorporates some recovered parts of the original trackwork.^[2]

See also

• British industrial narrow gauge railways
• Kempton Park Steam Engines
• Kew Bridge Steam Museum

References

1. ^ "Metropolitan Water Board Railway". Locomotives. MWBRS. http://www.hamptonkemptonrailway.org.uk/railway/locos.html. Retrieved 2009-02-12. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ "Waterworks Railway". Kew Bridge Steam Museum. Archived from the original on 2007-08-19. http://web.archive.org/web/20070819045641/http://www.kbsm.org/railway/. Retrieved 2007-08-21. 

Further reading

• Hampton Waterworks and its Railway System, by Ron Howes and Ann Grant (from Kew Bridge Steam Museum),
  Archive Magazine (March 1998), the Quarterly Journal for British Industrial and Transport History, published by Lightmoor Press[1]

External links

• History of the railway
• Map of original route
• Metropolitan Water Board Railway Society – Site devoted to restoring the railway