Great Cockcrow Railway 7 ¼ inch
Construction began in mid-1965 and the first piece of the railway, between
Hardwick Central and Phillips Bridge, opened on 14th September 1968. Within a
year, however, the original ‘Circuit’ from Hardwick to Everglades Junction and
back had been completed. Doubling of most of the line was undertaken in the
early years together with some subsequent alterations and additions to the
original layout as experience of operation grew and as rising passenger
numbers made it necessary to increase line capacity. Following
purchase of additional land the branch from Everglades Junction to
Cockcrow Hill opened in 1979, the return line via Greywood Tunnel
coming into
operation five years later. At first this line made a junction with
the Down
Main at Bishop’s Bridge but was run through independently to
Everglades in
1989. Other subsequent extensions took the Jubilee Line (opened
1997) round the
lower car park, this project also including a spur to provide rail
access to
the increasingly well-equipped workshop. The Millennium Line, opened
in 2000,
extended the branch to form a ½ mile long loop below Cockcrow Hill.
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