These are narrow-gauge railways at military establishments and former UK Government-owned explosives sites. These locations were often subject to the Official Secrets Act and other government restrictions, so many of them are less well documented.
The industrial use of narrow-gauge railways was quite extensive amongst the various military and civilian explosive factories, for example ICI Nobel's works at Ardeer and the Agency Explosive Factories run by ICI Nobel in the Second World War. In another example, the Ministry of Supply (MOS) Factory Dalbeattie used gauge with a variety of bogie trucks mostly pushed by teams of three to six women. Stores, explosives, chemicals, rubbish and sewage, were all transported on this narrow-gauge system, which used at least 8miles of track.
| Name | Opened | Closed | Gauge | Location | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOE Okehampton Gun Ranges | ? | after 1979 | Okehampton, England | Target railway | ||
| DOE Redesdale Ranges target railway[1] | ? | ? | Redesdale, England | Target railway | ||
| Fort George Range | ? | ? | Inverness, Scotland | Target railway | ||
| Lydd Ranges | 1936 | Present | Lydd, England | Principally a target railway, though also carries personnel and equipment around the ranges. At least 39 locomotives and powered trollies have worked here. | ||
| National Rifle Association Bisley Tramways | 1898 | after 1971 | Bisley, England | The NRA originally had a temporary shooting range and railway on Wimbledon Common but in 1888 moved to Bisley. Initially using a Merryweather steam tram locomotive, later using diesel locomotives. | ||
| RAF Hell's Mouth target railway[2] | late 1930s | 1945 | ? | Abersoch, Wales | A target range railway operated by hand or rope-hauled in the dunes southeast of the airfield. | |
| Romney Marsh weapons range railway[3] | before 1975 | present ? | New Romney, England | Locomotive-worked network of lines across Romney Marsh | ||
| Rowtor Target Railway | 1958 | ? | Okehampton, England | Disused target railway with an unmanned Wickham trolley |
| Name | Opened | Closed | Gauge | Location | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAD Eastriggs Depot railway[4] [5] | ? | closed 2012 | Eastriggs, Scotland | Extensive WW II armaments depot line using parts of the site of the former HM Factory, Gretna. A sub-depot of CAD Longtown. | ||
| Priddy's Hard[6] [7] | about 1850 | about 1960 | and also later | Gosport, England | Ammunition transport railway, within the Royal Naval Armaments Depot, between store houses and piers. Eight battery-electric locomotives were used after 1929. | |
| Chatham Dockyard[8] | 1860s | 1930s | Chatham, England | Internal rail system serving the dockyard. | ||
| 1885 | 1961 | Chattenden, England | Light railway serving Chattenden barracks and armament stores | |||
| Davington Light Railway[9] | 1916 | 1918 | Faversham, England | Short-lived metre-gauge line serving an Admiralty munitions factory. The three locomotives were sold to Brazil where at least one survived until 1988. | ||
| HM Factory, Gretna | 1916 | 1919 | Gretna, Scotland | Extensive WW I Cordite factory line | ||
| Lodge Hill and Upnor Railway | 1873 | 1885 | Chattenden, England | Served the construction of the Chattenden and Upnor Railway. | ||
| Royal Air Force Chilmark Depot railway[10] | late 1930s | 1995 | Chilmark, Wiltshire, England | Extensive WW II armaments depot lines using underground Chilmark Quarries and above-ground storage at satellite site at Dinton, Wiltshire. | ||
| RAF Fauld Depot railway | by 1979 | Fauld, England | Underground ammunition store during WWII with supply railway. | |||
| Royal Arsenal Railway[11] [12] | 1873 | 1966 | and | Woolwich, England | Extensive internal rail system serving the Royal Arsenal. | |
| RCAF Seaford Head target railway | after 1939 | by 1945 | Seaford Head, Wales | Horse drawn target range railway about 1 mile long. | ||
| RNAD Broughton Moor railway | before 1943 | 1992 | Broughton Moor, England | Locomotive-worked line hauling ammunition around the depot. | ||
| RNAD Dean Hill Depot railway[13] [14] | before 1942 | 2003 | West Dean, England | Locomotive-worked line hauling ammunition around the depot. | ||
| RNAD Trecwn | 1938 | 1990 | Near Fishguard, West Wales | Locomotive-worked line hauling ammunition around the depot. Infrastructure built of copper to reduce sparks | ||
| ROF Bishopton | 1940 | 1950s - 2000 | Bishopton, Scotland | Approx 80 miles of internal rail system serving the World War II Cordite factories. | ||
| Royal Navy Holton Heath Cordite Factory[15] | 1914 | 1946 | Holton Heath, England | Extensive explosives factory complex using battery electric and fireless steam locomotives | ||
| Royal Navy Stokes Bay railway | 1880s | 1919 | Stokes Bay, England | Steam locomotive worked line. | ||
| Royal Navy Underwater Weapons Establishment | after 1979 | Weymouth, England | Battery-electric locomotive worked line. | |||
| before 1921 | 1968 | Wyke Regis, England | Pier railway used to transport torpedoes from the factory to ships. |
These factories were created during WW1 to unite the explosives, detonator, etc and the shell casings to make live munitions. This activity had the highest explosion risk, so precautions were very strict. They all followed a similar pattern in having standard gauge rail sidings separate from the filling area. These were used for delivery of the raw materials and for shipping out the products. The interior 'clean area' for filling comprised many small lightweight huts over a large area linked by raised walkways upon which lightweight gauge rail was laid. Trolleys with bronze wheels were normally moved by hand between these buildings, though ponies or horses were sometimes used.
Production ceased at the factories at the end of the war, though some of them were used for dismantling ammunition into the early 1920s. Some clues as to the railways on these sites come from the auctions as the sites were cleared, examples are :
Explosives stores (magazines) were in some cases remote from the clean area, and towards the end of the war there were a few orders for internal combustion locos to move materials. No 7 Filling Factory at Hayes had an entirely separate explosives magazine at Northolt, where a main line siding was linked to the 20 separate storage bunkers by light rail. 100 tons of explosives were moved each day by rail to the Hayes plant for processing. Records exist of two Baguley 2 foot gauge internal combustion locos ordered in 1917 by No 7 National Filling Factory for Northolt.[18] Seven similar locos were ordered in 1917 for No 2 National Filling Factory at Aintree,[18] so this must also have had light rail outside the main assembly area, such as for storage of shell cases (as this factory was designed to handle ship loads of munitions components received from overseas at Liverpool Docks).
| Name | Opened | Closed | Gauge | Location | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braefoot Bay | ? | Aberdour, Scotland | Fortification supply railway | |||
| Flat Holm Battery | Bristol Channel, Wales | Fortification supply railway | ||||
| Hoo Ness Tramway[20] | before 1914 | after 1979 | Hoo Ness, England | Locomotive-worked tramway. May have been gauge previously | ||
| 1895 | 1956 | Hurst Castle, England | Line for moving ammunition and supplies around the castle. Used hand and donkey hauled wagons. Much track still in situ. | |||
| South Heighton railway | 1941 | 1941 | Newhaven, England | Hand-worked line to aid construction of underground command centre. | ||
| Steep Holm railway[21] | 1880s | 1946 | ? | Steep Holm, North Somerset, England | Fortification supply railway. Palmerston forts, shown on 1886 Ordnance Survey maps. Relaid in World War II. Finally Demolished 1946. |
| Name | Opened | Closed | Gauge | Location | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aldershot Narrow Gauge Suspension Railway | 1872 | Unknown | Aldershot Garrison | Experimental monorail | ||
| Kinmel Camp Railway[22] | 1914 | 1917 | St. Asaph, Wales | Locomotive-worked construction railway for the Kinmel Camp | ||
| Longmoor Military Railway | 1903 | 1907 | Weaversdown, England | Early gauge construction line used to assist in the demolition of army huts. Relaid as standard gauge starting in 1905-1907. gauge line at the extensive railway training centre at Longmoor. | ||
| Strensall Ranges, HQ Strensall Training Centre, | 1870 | Present | 3 ft 3 1/2” | Strensall, York, England | Specifically built to carry targetry to the ranges, originally 6 in number, F Range was converted to a SARTS Range and the rails were removed. Still continues to be used for its original purpose, Range trolleys are named after characters from “Thomas the Tank engine”. The system has a “siding” behind each front mantlet allowing trolleys to clear the main line. 1,165 yds long. | |
| 1919 | 1946 | Calshot, England | Short line serving Calshot camp and pier. Steam locomotives were used, one of which is preserved on the Talyllyn Railway as Douglas. |