The (Fictitious) History of the MVR...
Many garden railway enthusiasts enjoy writing a history for their line. Not only is the creation of a plausible story an interesting and challenging exercise, it gives the railway a sense of purpose and provides a rationale for the builder's choices when deciding on track layouts, rolling stock etc. This is my vision of how the MVR came into being...
The MVR can trace its origins to the turn of the last century. The Metropolitan extension to Aylesbury linked Little Chalfont, Amersham and Great Missenden to the railway map in 1892, and the Great Western/Great Central Joint Line took a more southerly route through Gerrards Cross and Beaconsfield in 1906. Meanwhile, the Light Railways Act of 1896 had stimulated the development of narrow-gauge railways. Lord Rutton, of Rutton Manor (just south of Amersham), decided that such a line could improve transport both for his own estate and other farms in the valley of the river Misbourne, which flowed from the "Met" line at Amersham to the "Joint" line at Gerrards Cross. From his point of view, the best routes would have been direct from Rutton Manor to either Amersham or Little Chalfont, but the hostility of neighbouring landowners ruled out these options. Instead, the line took a meandering course from Rutton Manor, passing the edge of Old Amersham at Box End, through pleasant countryside near Shardeloes to a junction with the Metropolitan near Little Missenden. The line was contructed to 2' 6" gauge (following the example of the Welshpool & Llanfair and Leek & Manifold light railways), and opened in 1906.
Initial motive power was a 2' gauge 2-6-2T supplied by the Hunslet Engine Co. of Leeds. It was based on a recent 2' gauge 2-6-2T for the Portmadoc, Beddgelert & South Snowdon Railway, but widened to suit the larger gauge. Lord Rutton named the loco after his baby son, Russell - which, by an impalusible coincidence, was the same name applied to the PBSSR loco! Initial rolling stock consisted of a cattle wagon for livestock, a pair of bolsters for timber and other long loads, a general-purpose open wagon and flat wagon, and a brakevan. For passengers, a very fine coach was supplied by the Great Eastern Railway's Stratford Woks (where Rutton had contacts), this being a scaled - down version of those supplied to the standard-gauge Wisbech and Upwell Tramway.
The route served few farmers and no population centres, apart from Amersham; predictably, traffic was meagre. The Ruttons had hoped to extend the line beyond Rutton Manor toward the Chalfonts and Gerrards Cross, but it soon became clear that they would be unable to raise the necessary capital. Thus, the company initially struggled, but the 1920s appeared to offer new opportunities. The Metropolitan Railway was now planning extensive housing developments around Amersham, and the Ruttons decided to cash in on this phenomenon. They planned a small development on their own land near Rutton Manor, conveniently linked to Box End and the "Met" Line by the MVR. They also encouraged day-trippers from the capital to use to MVR to access the Chiltern Hills, opening a small halt near Shardeloes cricket ground for the benefit of walkers.
The resultant growth in traffic, though not spectacular, was enough to keep the railway going until the 1950s. To cater for the extra traffic, a second-hand Krauss 0-4-0T and two four-wheeled coaches were obtained from Germany in 1923. A new brake-van and open wagon were also purchased, the latter being acquired from the Lyton & Barnstaple Railway following its closure in 1935.
The line escaped nationalisation in 1948 but, by the time Lord Rutton died in 1961, increased road competition had wiped out most of the its remaining traffic. His executors quickly decided to close the railway and put its equipment up for sale. A preservation society was formed, but struggled in the face of opposition from residents, who felt that a tourist attraction on their suburban doorsteps would only be a nuisance. In the end, the entire railway was sold to an American collector, and by the end of 1962 most of the track and stock had been shipped abroad. Only the German loco and coaches were rejected the American - who only wanted British equipment! - and these items were eventually purchased by Sir William McAlpine. He initially allowed them to be displayed on a plinth in Amersham, but they soon began to suffer from vandalism, so were removed to his private railway at Fawley Hill. The preservation society was disbanded, but the dream of restoring rails to the Misbourne Valley never completely died.
When the old Home Farm of Rutton Manor was turned into a children's farm park in the mid-1990s, local enthusiasts were quick to suggest that a restored length of the old MVR would make an excellent complementary attraction. A new Misbourne Valley Railway Society was formed, and McAlpine agreed to give them custody of the German stock. In 2000, a short demonstration line opened from the site of the old Rutton station, which had long since been demolished.
The rest of the MVR equipment was still in the USA; the original purchaser never realised his dream of building his own British narrow-gauge railway, and the stock suffered from years of open storage. With support from wealthy benefactors, the MVRS managed to repatriate the entire collection and the stock was gradually restored to working order, beginning with Russell in 2001.
Flushed by their success, the MVRPS determined to re-open more of the railway. They secured the old trackbed to Box End, but local opposition thwarted their attempts to acquire the Box End-Little Missenden section. Undeterred, the revivalists took the unusual step of proposing a brand new route. This would swing south after leaving Box End and pass the outskirts of Coleshill, which would be served by a new halt at Rose Lane. After skirting the edge of some scenic woodland, the railway would return to Rutton to create a circular route. This time permission was granted, and a Heritage Lottery Fund grant allowed construction to progress rapidly. The grand opening of the new Misbourne Valley Railway took place in April 2004.
Since then the MVRPS have worked to consolidate their achievements. The rest of the repatriated rolling stockwas gradually returned to service, and new vehicles have also arrived. In 2006, the line acquired its first diesel locomotive, Blackbird. This was later followed by two 0-4-0 steam locos, Auric and Lord Percy.
A replica of the old Shardeloes Halt waiting shelter has been built to stand at Rose Halt, while an ex-standard gauge signal box was rescued from a garden and installed at Rutton. A grand new station building has been built at Rutton, and a smaller one is now under construction for Box End. Although the Box End-Little Missenden line is sadly lost forever, the MVRPS are rightly proud of their achievement in building a new line that captures the spirit of the old.
The MVR can trace its origins to the turn of the last century. The Metropolitan extension to Aylesbury linked Little Chalfont, Amersham and Great Missenden to the railway map in 1892, and the Great Western/Great Central Joint Line took a more southerly route through Gerrards Cross and Beaconsfield in 1906. Meanwhile, the Light Railways Act of 1896 had stimulated the development of narrow-gauge railways. Lord Rutton, of Rutton Manor (just south of Amersham), decided that such a line could improve transport both for his own estate and other farms in the valley of the river Misbourne, which flowed from the "Met" line at Amersham to the "Joint" line at Gerrards Cross. From his point of view, the best routes would have been direct from Rutton Manor to either Amersham or Little Chalfont, but the hostility of neighbouring landowners ruled out these options. Instead, the line took a meandering course from Rutton Manor, passing the edge of Old Amersham at Box End, through pleasant countryside near Shardeloes to a junction with the Metropolitan near Little Missenden. The line was contructed to 2' 6" gauge (following the example of the Welshpool & Llanfair and Leek & Manifold light railways), and opened in 1906.
Initial motive power was a 2' gauge 2-6-2T supplied by the Hunslet Engine Co. of Leeds. It was based on a recent 2' gauge 2-6-2T for the Portmadoc, Beddgelert & South Snowdon Railway, but widened to suit the larger gauge. Lord Rutton named the loco after his baby son, Russell - which, by an impalusible coincidence, was the same name applied to the PBSSR loco! Initial rolling stock consisted of a cattle wagon for livestock, a pair of bolsters for timber and other long loads, a general-purpose open wagon and flat wagon, and a brakevan. For passengers, a very fine coach was supplied by the Great Eastern Railway's Stratford Woks (where Rutton had contacts), this being a scaled - down version of those supplied to the standard-gauge Wisbech and Upwell Tramway.
The route served few farmers and no population centres, apart from Amersham; predictably, traffic was meagre. The Ruttons had hoped to extend the line beyond Rutton Manor toward the Chalfonts and Gerrards Cross, but it soon became clear that they would be unable to raise the necessary capital. Thus, the company initially struggled, but the 1920s appeared to offer new opportunities. The Metropolitan Railway was now planning extensive housing developments around Amersham, and the Ruttons decided to cash in on this phenomenon. They planned a small development on their own land near Rutton Manor, conveniently linked to Box End and the "Met" Line by the MVR. They also encouraged day-trippers from the capital to use to MVR to access the Chiltern Hills, opening a small halt near Shardeloes cricket ground for the benefit of walkers.
The resultant growth in traffic, though not spectacular, was enough to keep the railway going until the 1950s. To cater for the extra traffic, a second-hand Krauss 0-4-0T and two four-wheeled coaches were obtained from Germany in 1923. A new brake-van and open wagon were also purchased, the latter being acquired from the Lyton & Barnstaple Railway following its closure in 1935.
The line escaped nationalisation in 1948 but, by the time Lord Rutton died in 1961, increased road competition had wiped out most of the its remaining traffic. His executors quickly decided to close the railway and put its equipment up for sale. A preservation society was formed, but struggled in the face of opposition from residents, who felt that a tourist attraction on their suburban doorsteps would only be a nuisance. In the end, the entire railway was sold to an American collector, and by the end of 1962 most of the track and stock had been shipped abroad. Only the German loco and coaches were rejected the American - who only wanted British equipment! - and these items were eventually purchased by Sir William McAlpine. He initially allowed them to be displayed on a plinth in Amersham, but they soon began to suffer from vandalism, so were removed to his private railway at Fawley Hill. The preservation society was disbanded, but the dream of restoring rails to the Misbourne Valley never completely died.
When the old Home Farm of Rutton Manor was turned into a children's farm park in the mid-1990s, local enthusiasts were quick to suggest that a restored length of the old MVR would make an excellent complementary attraction. A new Misbourne Valley Railway Society was formed, and McAlpine agreed to give them custody of the German stock. In 2000, a short demonstration line opened from the site of the old Rutton station, which had long since been demolished.
The rest of the MVR equipment was still in the USA; the original purchaser never realised his dream of building his own British narrow-gauge railway, and the stock suffered from years of open storage. With support from wealthy benefactors, the MVRS managed to repatriate the entire collection and the stock was gradually restored to working order, beginning with Russell in 2001.
Flushed by their success, the MVRPS determined to re-open more of the railway. They secured the old trackbed to Box End, but local opposition thwarted their attempts to acquire the Box End-Little Missenden section. Undeterred, the revivalists took the unusual step of proposing a brand new route. This would swing south after leaving Box End and pass the outskirts of Coleshill, which would be served by a new halt at Rose Lane. After skirting the edge of some scenic woodland, the railway would return to Rutton to create a circular route. This time permission was granted, and a Heritage Lottery Fund grant allowed construction to progress rapidly. The grand opening of the new Misbourne Valley Railway took place in April 2004.
Since then the MVRPS have worked to consolidate their achievements. The rest of the repatriated rolling stockwas gradually returned to service, and new vehicles have also arrived. In 2006, the line acquired its first diesel locomotive, Blackbird. This was later followed by two 0-4-0 steam locos, Auric and Lord Percy.
A replica of the old Shardeloes Halt waiting shelter has been built to stand at Rose Halt, while an ex-standard gauge signal box was rescued from a garden and installed at Rutton. A grand new station building has been built at Rutton, and a smaller one is now under construction for Box End. Although the Box End-Little Missenden line is sadly lost forever, the MVRPS are rightly proud of their achievement in building a new line that captures the spirit of the old.
...and the True Story
The story of the MVR actually started in 1998, when I was just seven years old. At that time, my brother and I were running a small 00 gauge circuit in the house; we were happy with the "electric mice" as we did not realise there was any alternative. Everything changed when my brother spotted an advert for the then-new Roundhouse "Katie" in Railway Modeller. We had not previously thought it possible to build real steam engines on such a small scale, and were fascinated; we sent off for a catalogue almost immediately. Having read it, we were fired with enthusiasm, and naturally we wanted to buy one! Unfortunately the prices (which in those days started at £715 for a manual "Billy"), were way out of our reach. Our parents inevitably refused to buy one for us, so I decided there was nothing for it but to save up - and so I did. At the time, I had still not chosen an engine, but when Roundhouse launched "Russell" later that year I decided that that was the one I wanted.
As my brother and I got older we ran out of space for our 00 gauge layout, and it was dismantled. By this time, we had extensively researched live steam and garden railways; Tag Gorton's articles in Railway Modeller were a particular source of inspiration. We realised that, with our newfound interest in live steam, the garden was the best place to build a new railway. In 1999, our parents helped us in this aim by giving us an LGB starter set for Christmas, which included loco No. 2 and coaches A1/2. We initially laid a temporary line indoors, running from my bedroom to my brother's, but when spring came we moved into the garden.
My father purchased a load of cinder blocks to allow us to lay a temporary line. This started on the patio roughly where Rutton is now; the breezeblocks were then loosely laid around the edge of the lawn to form a raised trackbed. The route was roughly the same as that of the current railway, but at a lower level. We bought more track, but there weren't quite enough blocks to complete the circuit, so the line stopped short a little way beyond where Box End is now. The line was very lightly built, and derailments were frequent; fortunately the LGB stock was very robust!
After three years of saving my parents knew I was serious about buying Russell. So in 2001 they took my money, and added to it contributions from relatives and friends as well as some from themselves, and bought Russell for me as my 10th birthday present in 2001. They even threw in a trip up to Doncaster so I could collect her from the factory in person!
But when I got Russell home, I did not want my new pride-and-joy running along our rickety track in the garden, so this was dismantled to make way for a more permanent line; in the meantime, a short oval was laid on the patio so that Russell could be run-in. None of us had the necessary skills to build a permanent layout, so for the next two years Russell was restricted to that short line on the patio. However, in late 2002 I joined the Association of 16mm Narrow Gauge Modellers. This enabled me to visit local garden lines, notably the Woodrow Light Railway, whose owners gave us valuable assistance in the following years.
In 2004 my father engaged professional garden railway builder Paul Barnard to construct the MVR. He certainly made up for lost time, constructing the entire line in just eight days from the cutting of the first sod to the final handover! The railway was built on a breezeblock trackbed as before, but this time at a higher level and on a proper concrete foundation. Some of the original cinder blocks from the temporary railway were reused in the Rutton station area; this decision would come back to haunt us later on. The MVR was officially opened in May 2004. Over the following years, the railway was steadily improved: new coaches and wagons were acquired (see the Rolling Stock page), along with a battery diesel named Blackbird. Station buildings were acquired for Rose Halt and Box End, although it was not until 2019 that proper concrete platforms were constructed for them to sit on!
The line saw regular use during my school years, but one I departed for university the railway lay dormant during term time, only returning to life during the holidays. After graduation, my career initially involved frequent moves around the country, so it proved impossible to provide the railway with the care and attention it needed. This lack of maintenance was disastrous for Rutton station: the old cinder blocks gradually disintegrated because of frost erosion. Fortunately, in 2013 the Woodrow Light Railway helped us to completely rebuild the station area on a new, wooden trackbed. The opportunity was taken to modify the station track layout by installing two sidings, and a fine girder bridge was installed at the Rose Halt end of the station.
A career change in 2018 saw me move back to Buckinghamshire, and since then I have tried to catch up on the backlog of maintenance and further develop the railway. This has included a complete reballasting programme, new platforms at all three stations and a new building for Box End. The long term future of the railway depends largely on my future career; but as long as I remain in Buckinghamshire I will do my best to keep the railway going - and, of course, I will continue to document progress on this website and on our Facebook page (search "mvr16mm").
As my brother and I got older we ran out of space for our 00 gauge layout, and it was dismantled. By this time, we had extensively researched live steam and garden railways; Tag Gorton's articles in Railway Modeller were a particular source of inspiration. We realised that, with our newfound interest in live steam, the garden was the best place to build a new railway. In 1999, our parents helped us in this aim by giving us an LGB starter set for Christmas, which included loco No. 2 and coaches A1/2. We initially laid a temporary line indoors, running from my bedroom to my brother's, but when spring came we moved into the garden.
My father purchased a load of cinder blocks to allow us to lay a temporary line. This started on the patio roughly where Rutton is now; the breezeblocks were then loosely laid around the edge of the lawn to form a raised trackbed. The route was roughly the same as that of the current railway, but at a lower level. We bought more track, but there weren't quite enough blocks to complete the circuit, so the line stopped short a little way beyond where Box End is now. The line was very lightly built, and derailments were frequent; fortunately the LGB stock was very robust!
After three years of saving my parents knew I was serious about buying Russell. So in 2001 they took my money, and added to it contributions from relatives and friends as well as some from themselves, and bought Russell for me as my 10th birthday present in 2001. They even threw in a trip up to Doncaster so I could collect her from the factory in person!
But when I got Russell home, I did not want my new pride-and-joy running along our rickety track in the garden, so this was dismantled to make way for a more permanent line; in the meantime, a short oval was laid on the patio so that Russell could be run-in. None of us had the necessary skills to build a permanent layout, so for the next two years Russell was restricted to that short line on the patio. However, in late 2002 I joined the Association of 16mm Narrow Gauge Modellers. This enabled me to visit local garden lines, notably the Woodrow Light Railway, whose owners gave us valuable assistance in the following years.
In 2004 my father engaged professional garden railway builder Paul Barnard to construct the MVR. He certainly made up for lost time, constructing the entire line in just eight days from the cutting of the first sod to the final handover! The railway was built on a breezeblock trackbed as before, but this time at a higher level and on a proper concrete foundation. Some of the original cinder blocks from the temporary railway were reused in the Rutton station area; this decision would come back to haunt us later on. The MVR was officially opened in May 2004. Over the following years, the railway was steadily improved: new coaches and wagons were acquired (see the Rolling Stock page), along with a battery diesel named Blackbird. Station buildings were acquired for Rose Halt and Box End, although it was not until 2019 that proper concrete platforms were constructed for them to sit on!
The line saw regular use during my school years, but one I departed for university the railway lay dormant during term time, only returning to life during the holidays. After graduation, my career initially involved frequent moves around the country, so it proved impossible to provide the railway with the care and attention it needed. This lack of maintenance was disastrous for Rutton station: the old cinder blocks gradually disintegrated because of frost erosion. Fortunately, in 2013 the Woodrow Light Railway helped us to completely rebuild the station area on a new, wooden trackbed. The opportunity was taken to modify the station track layout by installing two sidings, and a fine girder bridge was installed at the Rose Halt end of the station.
A career change in 2018 saw me move back to Buckinghamshire, and since then I have tried to catch up on the backlog of maintenance and further develop the railway. This has included a complete reballasting programme, new platforms at all three stations and a new building for Box End. The long term future of the railway depends largely on my future career; but as long as I remain in Buckinghamshire I will do my best to keep the railway going - and, of course, I will continue to document progress on this website and on our Facebook page (search "mvr16mm").