North Somerset Light Railway Company
- In the 1950s there was an attempt to reopen part of the WC&PR as a narrow gauge railway
for tourists. The prime movers were Mr S Jones-Frank and Major WDI Gunn, Bristol
railway enthusiasts.
- In March 1955, the British Transport Commission approved the foundation of the North
Somerset Light Railway Company, the first private railway company to be floated since
nationalisation.
- They planned to run 12 trains a day on a 6.5 mile stretch of 2’ 8” gauge track between
Clevedon and the outskirts of Weston at Worle. The original trackbed was to be followed
to a point a little short of the Clevedon station, departing from the route and curving
towards Salthouse Fields where it would terminate.
- In 1956 they purchased a loco, Septimus: a Peckett 0-4-2ST No 1808 built in 1930,
from the Furzebrook Railway. Since the railway was never built, they never used it.
According to the Purbeck Mineral & Mining Museum web site, it went to Peckett's works
at Bristol in 1956 and was scrapped in 1962.
- Eventually the plans foundered.
This subject is still being researched. More details to follow - watch this space