In the entrance to the Alton Towers chapel guests could once find a miniature railway. It opened in 1957 and was built by a chap called Aubrey Bentley who ran it as a business, when everything had a separate admission charge. His son Alan took it over in 1964.
Fact File
- Location: The Towers
- Opening Year: 1957
- Closing Year: 1992
With 35 locomotives hauling more than 200 items of rolling stock. The track was over 500 metres long, with dozens of signals, lights, trees, bushes as well as stations, bridges, houses and lakes. The electrical circuitry was made from 16km of electric wiring.
It covered an area of 51 feet by 16 feet, it took two men two and a half years to build, working an average of 16 hours a day. Over 100 gallons of water circulated through its rivers and lakes. With over 3000 trees, 400 lights and 70 coloured signals it was one of the highlights of the day.
In 1993, when the chapel was being restored, the railway was removed from the park and sold at auction.
