Colne Valley Waterworks railway

Colne Valley Waterworks railway
Locale	England
Dates of operation	1931 – 1967
Track gauge	2 ft (610 mm)
Length	1 mile
Headquarters	Watford

The Colne Valley Waterworks railway was an industrial narrow gauge railway connecting the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) Watford to Rickmansworth branch line with the Eastbury Pumping Station.

The Colne Valley Water Company opened the Eastbury Pumping Station near Watford in 1873. In 1931 the company opened a narrow gauge railway connecting the pumping station with the LNWR's standard gauge branch line between Watford and Rickmansworth. The line ran southeast from a private siding on the LNWR line, crossed the River Colne by a relatively substantial plate girder bridge and ended in a yard at the pumping station. The railway carried coal to power the pumping station and chlorine and salt for the water softening plant.

The pumping station switched from coal to diesel power in 1956; after this use of the railway declined significantly. Chlorine and salt were still carried by rail. The line closed in 1967. The two locomotives were purchased for preservation.

Locomotives

Number	Builder	Type	Date	Works number	Notes
1	Ruston & Hornsby	4wDM	1932	166015	Preserved at the Amberley Chalk Pits Museum in 1968
2	Ruston & Hornsby	4wDM	1933	166024	Preserved at the Amberley Chalk Pits Museum in 1968

References

• Neale, Andrew (April 1992). "Coal, Chemicals and Salt. The Colne Valley Waterworks Railway". Narrow Gauge & Industrial Railway Modelling Review 2 (10). ISSN 0958-0808. 

See also

• British industrial narrow gauge railways