This is a list of heritage, private and preserved railways throughout the United Kingdom, the Crown dependencies, and British Overseas Territories whether operational or closed, that are operated for charitable purposes or shareholder profit. Some also provide economic local transport. For rail museums, see List of British railway museums.
Many of the standard-gauge railways listed, including former branch lines and ex-mainline routes, were closed by British Railways under the Beeching Axe of the 1960s. Most have been restored and operate as heritage lines. A smaller number of lines were formerly industrial or colliery railways.
Many of these preserved railways are mentioned in national and international tour guides, and visits may form part of a school curriculum or feature in other studies, including civil engineering, mechanics, social, economic and political history, visual arts and drama.
This list also includes tramways. Nearly all tram services in Britain ended in the 1950s and early 1960s, leaving just Blackpool Corporation Tramways, although some big cities have since revived them in the late 20th century onwards.
This list includes those railways which have public open days and excludes those on private sites which are not advertised to the public.
England
Northern England
Standard gauge Aln Valley Railway, Alnwick, Northumberland Bowes Railway, Tyne and Wear Derwent Valley Light Railway, Murton, North Yorkshire East Lancashire Railway, Bury, Greater Manchester Eden Valley Railway, Warcop, Cumbria Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway, Embsay, North Yorkshire Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, Haworth, West Yorkshire Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway, Haverthwaite, nr Staveley, Cumbria Middleton Railway, Hunslet, West Yorkshire North Tyneside Steam Railway, North Shields, Tyne and Wear North Yorkshire Moors Railway, Pickering, North Yorkshire Ribble Steam Railway, Preston, Lancashire Stainmore Railway, Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria Tanfield Railway, Marley Hill, County Durham Weardale Railway, Stanhope, County Durham Wensleydale Railway, Leeming Bar, North Yorkshire Yorkshire Wolds Railway, Sledmere–Fimber, East Yorkshire
Railway centres and museums Beamish Museum & Railway Centre, County Durham Carnforth Railway Centre, Carnforth, Lancashire - private site Crewe Heritage Centre, Crewe, Cheshire Head of Steam, Darlington, County Durham Heaton Park Tramway Museum, Manchester, Greater Manchester Leeds Industrial Museum, Armley, West Yorkshire Locomotion, Shildon, County Durham National Railway Museum, York, North Yorkshire Science and Industry Museum, Liverpool Road, Manchester South Yorkshire Transport Museum, Aldwarke, Rotherham, South Yorkshire Stephenson Railway Museum, West Chirton, Tyne and Wear
Narrow gauge
Heatherslaw Light Railway, Northumberland Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway, Cumbria South Tynedale Railway between Alston, Cumbria and Slaggyford, Northumberland Threlkeld Quarry Railway, Cumbria West Lancashire Light Railway, Hesketh Bank, Lancashire Woodhorn Narrow Gauge Railway, Ashington, Northumberland
Miniature
All in one Miniature Railway, Knutsford nr Allostock, Cheshire Blackpool Zoo Railway, Blackpool, Lancashire Brookside Miniature Railway, Poynton, Cheshire Croxteth Country Park miniature railway, Liverpool Dragon Miniature Railway, Marple, nr Stockport, Greater Manchester Eaton Hall Railway, Cheshire – private site Halton Miniature Railway, Runcorn, Cheshire High Legh Miniature Railway, High Legh, Cheshire Knowsley Safari Park Railway, Knowsley, Merseyside Lakeside Miniature Railway, Pleasureland Southport, Merseyside North Bay Railway, Scarborough, North Yorkshire Pleasure Beach Express, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Lancashire Teesside Small Gauge Railway, Preston Park, Stockton-on-Tees Pugneys Light Railway, Wakefield, West Yorkshire Saltburn Miniature Railway, Saltburn, North Yorkshire South Park Miniature Railway, Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester Thorpe Light Railway, Whorlton, County Durham Walton Park Miniature Railway, Sale, Greater Manchester Whistlestop Valley, Clayton West, West Yorkshire Windmill Farm Railway, Burscough, Lancashire Wirral Model Engineering Society, Royden Park, Wirral, Merseyside
Tramways
Beamish Museum, County Durham Bradford Industrial Museum, Eccleshill, (nr Bradford), West Yorkshire Heaton Park Tramway, Manchester, Greater Manchester Shipley Glen Tramway, Shipley, West Yorkshire Wirral Transport Museum and Heritage Tramway, Birkenhead, Merseyside
East of England
Standard gauge Colne Valley Railway, Castle Hedingham, Essex Epping Ongar Railway, Ongar, Essex Mid-Norfolk Railway, Dereham, Norfolk Mid Suffolk Light Railway, Brockford, Suffolk Nene Valley Railway, Wansford, Cambridgeshire North Norfolk Railway, Sheringham, Norfolk
Railway centres and museums Bressingham Steam and Gardens, Diss, Norfolk East Anglian Railway Museum, Chappel & Wakes Colne Station, Essex Mangapps Railway Museum, Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex Railworld Wildlife Haven, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire Whitwell & Reepham Railway, Reepham, Norfolk
Narrow gauge Bressingham Steam and Gardens, Diss, Norfolk Bure Valley Railway, Aylsham, Norfolk Great Whipsnade Railway, Whipsnade Zoo, Bedfordshire Leighton Buzzard Light Railway, Bedfordshire Southend Pier Railway, Southend-on-Sea, Essex Southwold Steamworks, Southwold, Suffolk Gunpowder Railway at Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills, Essex Yaxham Light Railway, Norfolk – private site
Miniature
Audley End Railway, Essex Bushey Miniature Railway, Bushey, Hertfordshire East Herts Miniature Railway, Ware, Hertfordshire Eaton Park Miniature Railway, Norwich, Norfolk Fancott Miniature Railway, Bedfordshire Rex Express, Paradise Wildlife Park, Hertfordshire Riverside Miniature Railway, St Neots, Cambridgeshire Great Woburn Railway, Woburn, Bedfordshire Wells & Walsingham Light Railway, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Tramways East Anglia Transport Museum, Lowestoft, Suffolk
East Midlands
Standard gauge
Battlefield Line, Shackerstone, Leicestershire Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, Wirksworth, Derbyshire Great Central Railway, Loughborough, Leicestershire Great Central Railway (Nottingham), Ruddington, Nottinghamshire Lincolnshire Wolds Railway, Ludborough, Lincolnshire Midland Railway – Butterley, Derbyshire Mountsorrel Railway, Mountsorrel, Leicestershire Northampton & Lamport Railway, Pitsford and Brampton, Northamptonshire Northants Ironstone Railway, Hunsbury Hill, Northamptonshire Peak Rail, Matlock, Derbyshire Rushden, Higham & Wellingborough Railway, Rushden, Northamptonshire
Railway centres and museums Appleby Frodingham Railway, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire Barrow Hill Roundhouse, Barrow Hill nr Chesterfield, Derbyshire Nottingham Heritage Railway, Ruddington, Nottinghamshire Rutland Railway Museum, Cottesmore, Rutland
Narrow gauge Abbey Pumping Station Railway Leicester, Leicestershire Billing Aquadrome Miniature Railway, Great Billing, Northamptonshire Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway, Lincolnshire Crowle Peatland Railway, Crowle, North Lincolnshire Derbyshire Dales Narrow Gauge Railway, Rowsley, Derbyshire Golden Valley Light Railway, Butterley, Derbyshire Irchester Narrow Gauge Railway Museum, Irchester, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway, Skegness, Lincolnshire North Ings Farm Railway, Lincolnshire Sherwood Forest Railway, Nottinghamshire Steeple Grange Light Railway, Wirksworth, Derbyshire Wicksteed Park Railway, Kettering, Northamptonshire
Miniature Evergreens Miniature Railway, Keal Cotes, Lincolnshire Mablethorpe Miniature Railway, Queens Park, Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire Stapleford Miniature Railway, near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire
Tramways
National Tramway Museum, Crich, Derbyshire
South East
Standard gauge Bluebell Railway, Sheffield Park, Sussex Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway, Chinnor, Oxfordshire / Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire Cholsey and Wallingford Railway, Wallingford, Oxfordshire East Kent Railway, Shepherdswell, Kent Isle of Wight Steam Railway, Havenstreet, Isle of Wight Kent and East Sussex Railway, Tenterden, Kent Lavender Line, Isfield, East Sussex Rother Valley Railway, Robertsbridge, East Sussex (line extension under construction) Spa Valley Railway, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent Watercress Line, New Alresford, Hampshire
Railway centres and museums
Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, Quainton, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire Chatham Historic Dockyard Railway, Kent Colonel Stephens Railway Museum, Tenterden, Kent Didcot Railway Centre, Didcot, Oxfordshire London Transport Museum, Covent Garden, Central London London Transport Museum, Acton Depot, West London- private site but occasional public open days One:One collection, Hornby Hobbies, Margate, Kent- private site but occasional public open days Southall Railway Centre, Southall, West London- private site
Narrow gauge
Amberley Museum Railway, Amberley, West Sussex Bredgar & Wormshill Light Railway, near Sittingbourne, Kent Exbury Gardens Railway, Beaulieu, Hampshire Great Bush Railway, Tinkers Park, Hadlow Down, East Sussex Hampton & Kempton Waterworks Railway, Hanworth/Hampton, London. Hayling Seaside Railway, Hayling Island, Hampshire Hollycombe Steam Collection, near Liphook, Hampshire Hythe Pier Ferry Railway, Hampshire London Museum of Water & Steam, Kew Bridge, Brentford, London Mail Rail, short section of the former London Post Office Railway opened to public since 2017 Old Kiln Light Railway, Rural Life Centre, Reeds Road, Tilford, Farnham, Surrey Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway, Kent Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway, Kent Volk's Electric Railway, Brighton, East Sussex
Miniature Ascot Locomotive Society, Ascot, Berkshire Bankside Miniature Railway, Eastleigh, Hampshire Barking Park Light Railway, Barking, London Bekonscot Light Railway, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire Bentley Miniature Railway, near Uckfield, East Sussex. Blenheim Park Railway, Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire Beech Hurst Park Miniature Railway, Haywards Heath, West Sussex Crowborough Miniature Railway, Crowborough, East Sussex Eastbourne Miniature Steam Railway, Eastbourne, East Sussex Eastleigh Lakeside Railway, Hampshire Faversham Miniature Railway, Brogdale Farm, Faversham, Kent Frimley Lodge Park Railway, Surrey Great Cockcrow Railway, Chertsey, Surrey Harlington Locomotive Society, Hayes, Middlesex Hastings Miniature Railway, Hastings Seafront, East Sussex Ickenham Miniature Railway, Ickenham, London Jocks Lane Miniature Railway, Bracknell, Berkshire Leatherhead Model Railway, Leatherhead, Surrey Littlehampton Miniature Railway, Littlehampton, West Sussex Malden District Society of Model Engineers, Thames Ditton, Surrey Moors Valley Railway, near Ringwood, Hampshire Pinewood Model Railway, Pinewood, Crowthorne Reading Society of Model Engineers, Reading Berkshire Royal Victoria Railway, Southampton, Hampshire Ruislip Lido Railway, Ruislip, London South Downs Light Railway, Pulborough, West Sussex Swanley New Barn Railway, Swanley, Kent Watford Miniature Railway, Cassiobury Park, Watford, Hertfordshire Wellington Country Park Miniature Railway, near Riseley, Hampshire Woking Miniature Railway, Knaphill, Surrey
South West
Standard gauge Avon Valley Railway, Bitton, South Gloucestershire Bodmin & Wenford Railway, Bodmin, Cornwall Dartmouth Steam Railway, Paignton, Devon Dean Forest Railway, Norchard, Gloucestershire East Somerset Railway, Cranmore, Somerset Helston Railway, Prospidnick, Cornwall North Dorset Railway, Shillingstone, Dorset Plym Valley Railway, Marsh Mills, Plympton, Devon Somerset & Dorset Railway, Midsomer Norton, Somerset South Devon Railway, Buckfastleigh, Devon Swanage Railway, Swanage, Dorset Swindon & Cricklade Railway, Blunsdon, Wiltshire Tarka Valley Railway, Great Torrington, Devon