Wat Tyler Miniature Railway Celebrating it’s 20th Anniversary

The 10 ¼” gauge Miniature railway was first run at the Basildon Zoo until its closure in 1987. It was relocated to Wat Tyler Country Park & opened to the general public in 1988. Dereck Bundock oversaw the re-siting starting the track by the road side at the marina and terminating it half way round the lake at the boat museum. Over many years improvements have continually been made to the original 900metre track. The railway now boasts approximately 1100 meters of track, a station at the boat museum, a turntable at the marina terminal and a tunnel all of which add their own distinctive character to the railway.

In 2005 sadly Derek passed away after operating his “Western Courier” – Severn Lamb built Diesel outline petrol locomotive and four carriages on the miniature railway for more than seventeen years. This created a legal problem for the council as they owned the track but Derek had purchased many of the improvements on the railway. It was left to probate, this took approximately two years to resolve in which time the railway fell into disrepair due to the lack of maintenance. In 2006 the legalities were resolved and the tenure to operate the railway was won by Chris Bullen from Poole Park Miniature Railway. Chris managed to restore the track to an operating level replacing some sleepers and refurbishing the turntable. He ran his inter-city locomotive and four carriages during the summer months of 2006 but failed to return for the Easter of 2007 where Basildon council and Chris Bullen parted company.

July 2007 the Tenure was awarded to Go Bonkers who for many years had operated an inflatable village within Wat Tyler Park. Knowing that the track was in dyer need of tender loving care, Richard Moss of Go Bonkers with guidance from Graham Stoakes (a long serving enthusiast of the railway) organised a team of workers to painstakingly clear the track of foliage, replace more than two hundred and fifty sleepers, lay more than one hundred tonnes of granite chippings and generally improve the outlook of the Railway. Within four weeks of the tenure being awarded the railway was up and running using “Sid Tyndal” a Hymek, Briggs & Straton powered 8HP petrol hydrostatic locomotive built by Cromer White pulling two carriages made by Mardyke Miniature Railways. After a few weeks of service Richard quickly realised the popularity of the railway and inadequacies of the underpowered Hymek. Unfortunately in September 2007 a car causing irreparable damage to the chassis and bodywork nudged the Locomotive whilst on the level crossing. Luckily Go Bonkers were able to arrange long term hire of the original Severn Lamb Western Locomotive renamed the “St Albans Comet” from FMB Engineering (Fareham) to reinstate a scheduled service.

It has been proposed from Basildon Council (Wat Tyler Country Park Management) to extend the track by a further 500metres from Grand Central Station (behind the boat museum) following the path through the wooded area to within approximately one hundred metres of the main park gates, where it will return on itself by means of a loop. We are anticipating the extension to be completed by late June 2008 ready for the school summer holidays and the new arrival of a Deltic DP1 13HP Kubota powered diesel locomotive and 3 new carriages all manufactured by Mardyke Miniature Railways. With an overall track length of approximately 1600 metres Go Bonkers will able to operate two trains simultaneously using Grand Central station as the cross over, thus keeping the turnaround times to within approximately 20minutes. The Western & the Deltic will supply the pulling power but after a complete restoration we are confident the Hymek – “Sid Tyndal” will be in reserve for the odd occasion.

Richard Moss