Thorpe Park Carriages

Eight of these vehicles were acquired by the railway in the early 1990s. Originally built by Alan Keef Ltd in 1984, for the Thorpe Park theme park in Surrey, three of these vehicles entered service on the Lynbarn Railway at the Milky Way near Clovelly in 1994/95. The other five were stored on the outskirts of Barnstaple until such time as they were required for use on the railway at Woody Bay Station.

As delivered these coaches were very basic with open sides - four were rebuilt for use at Woody Bay as five compartment enclosed panelled vehicles with slam doors and drop-light windows.

No.1 - A brake 3rd with a dedicated Guards compartment.

No.2 - All 3rd with removable seats in one compartment to accommodate a wheelchair,

No.3 - Brake Composite having a fully upholstered first class compartment as well as one compartment capable of being used as Guards compartment

No. 4 - All 3rd the same as No.2 but without wheelchair facilities.

The Thorpe Park vehicles were our regular passenger service vehicles from 2004 until 2013.

The difference in size between the original L&B coaches and the Thorpe Park stock can be seen in this photo of L&BR heritage carriages 7 & 17 alongside the four Thorpe Park Carriages.

Surplus to requirements following the adoption of the L&BR Heritage Carriages as daily service stock, the four vehicles were sold to Graham Lee's Statfold Barn Railway, near Tamworth in Staffordshire and left Woody Bay May 2014.

24th November 2023

Donated by the Statfold Barn Railway to the Bala Lake Railway.

Quote "The railway is hugely grateful for this incredible gesture and greatly look forward to seeing them behind one of their five Quarry Hunslets next season."

Julian Birley, Chairman of the Bala Lake Railway Trust, said

“This is just an incredible boost to the railway and its future plans of extending into Bala. We are indebted to Graham Lee at Statfold Barn and look forward to him riding in them on our railway”.