Buyer found for lakeside miniature steam railway

The final price agreed for the railway would remain confidential, said the owner

The owner of a miniature steam railway put up for sale in 2023 has found a buyer.

The 10.25 inch gauge Leek and Rudyard Railway runs lakeside, on the site of original rail tracks, for 1.5 miles (2.4km) in Staffordshire.

Owner Simon Clarke, who is set to retire to Scotland, said the new owner used to volunteer at the railway as a teenager, and would not need all the rolling stock, as he had his own.

The original asking price had been £495,000, which had included track, an engine shed, three stations, four engines and ten passenger coaches.

Four locomotives are among 300 items being sold off prior to the new owner taking on Leek and Rudyard Railway

The new owner was from Stoke-on-Trent, and the aim was for him to take possession of the railway in May, said Mr Clarke.

However, because the buyer did not require everything that had originally been on offer, there would be a "big garage sale" in April.

Four locomotives, passenger coaches and railway artefacts would be among 300 surplus items for sale on 20 April, he said.

'Tinge of regret'

The current railway at Rudyard dates from 1985, and was built by Peter Hanton from Congleton.

It runs on the track bed of a full-sized railway that originally ran from Macclesfield to Uttoxeter.

Mr Clarke, who took over the railway in 2015, wants to relocate to Scotland, buy a smallholding and set up his own private miniature railway.

"There is always a tinge of regret to move on, but I'm happy to find a buyer with close links to the railway," he said.