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Welcome to the Great Cockcrow Railway

Emanating from the Greywood Central Railway, built from 1946, at a private address in Walton-on-Thames, the Great Cockcrow Railway opened in 1968 in the small village of Lyne near Chertsey. The layout has continually grown since moving to its present site, and a brief account of the progress can be found on this site and in the special brochure available from the ticket office.

The GCR is 7 ¼ inch gauge , and offers a choice of two regular routes, served about every five minutes each. There is a special train which covers both routes on its journey, and normally consists of a longer length train and is normally double-headed.

The miniature railway is not one of those that offers a ‘trip round the garden pond’. Authentic prototypical operation is evident. To this end the whole layout is fully signalled with strict block working and full track circuits.

October 2005. Trains wait for passengers prior to start of service. In the middle of the picture is Duchess class “City of London” whilst on the right is Southern U Class “River Itchen” .
On the left is a Stanier 8F and the battery electric Hymek.

A Message from the Chairman

We laid our first piece of track in 1968 and have been laying pieces of track ever since. Like Topsy, the Great Cockcrow Railway just growed, and growed and has developed into what we unhesitatingly claim to be the finest 7 1/4" gauge railway in the world. Our signalling arrangement is the high point with semaphores and colour lights controlling the two mile system which can run up to eight trains simultaneously. The railway is run to highly professional standards yet all the team are volunteers who welcome visitors and try to make them feel at home.

Although only 20 miles from the centre of London the railway is in a particularly pleasant rustic setting in the middle of the Surrey Green Belt. The only sign of 21st Century progress being the adjacent M25 motorway which the railway tries to eliminate by diving into a deep cutting. There are 20 steam engines and several instant start locomotives to maintain the service.

My words cannot adequately describe what we shamelessly boast to a superb railway, please come and see it for yourself, you are very welcome.

Ian Allan 17^th November 1999