Alderney and its railway

Alderney is the third largest of the Channel Islands, and though it is the most northerly, is curiously the closest to France, which is only 6 miles away. However, the island remains British, both politically (as a Crown dependancy) and in character. The island is about three miles long, and one mile wide, and is highly fortified, due to it's strategic position in the English Channel. The fortifications are partly Victorian, and partly German, who occupied the Channel Islands during World War II. There is a large harbour on the north side of the island, which has one of the longest breakwaters in Europe. A standard gauge railway was built to serve a quarry during construction of this breakwater, and is still in operation today, purely as a tourist attraction. The railway owns two carriages of a London Underground train, and these are hauled by a diesel; the steam loco having been sold due to rising maintenance costs. Click here for more details of this line.

The following photos were taken in June '99, and remain the copyright of Simon Robinson. You are welcome to copy them for any non-commercial purpose, but if you use them in any form, please attribute them to me. Please do not "hot-link" to these images!

A street in the island's town, St. Anne	Saye Bay, on the north-east end of Alderney	Braye and the harbour breakwater	The inner harbour
The station at Braye Road	The almost surreal sight of an underground train appearing through the undergrowth	The train at the top of the line - Mannez Quarry	Another view of the train
Elizabeth - one of two diesel locos on the railway	The train, with one of the German fortifications in the background	Another view of Elizabeth	And another...
A steam crane at Mannez Quarry - now in need of restoration	As well as the diesel locos, the railway also owns a pair of Wickham railcars and trailers	The Wickham railcars in action	Molly, the other diesel, in the shed
A view of the line between Braye Road and the harbour, currently disused	A pair of wagons on the harbour line	The end of the line was at the tip of the breakwater itself	J.T. Daly, the former steam loco on the line, now running on Jersey

Click here to view my other photo collections

This page was last updated on 23 October, 2005 and is copyright Simon Robinson.
You may use any part of this site for any non-commercial purpose, but if you do so, please attribute it to me.