The Light Railways Act 1896 (59 & 60 Vict. c. 48) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
History
Before the act each new railway line built in the country required a specific act of Parliament to be obtained by the company that wished to construct it, which greatly added to the cost and time it took to construct new railways. The economic downturn of the 1880s had hit agriculture and rural communities in the United Kingdom especially hard and the government wished to facilitate the construction of railways in rural areas, especially to facilitate the transport of goods. The 1896 act defined a class of railways which did not require specific legislation to construct – companies could simply plan a line under the auspices of the new act, and, having obtained a light railway order, build and operate it. By reducing the legal costs and allowing new railways to be built quickly the government hoped to encourage companies to build the new 'light railways' in areas of low population and industry that were previously of little interest to them.
A light railway is not a tramway but a separate class of railway. The act was triggered by the complexity of creating the low-cost railways that were needed at the time in rural areas, and by the successful use of tramway rules to create the Wisbech and Upwell Tramway in 1882, which was in fact a light railway in all but name.
The Regulation of Railways Act 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. c. 119) had permitted the construction of light railways subject to '...such conditions and regulations as the Board of Trade may from time to time impose or make'; for such railways it specified a maximum permitted axle weight and stated that '...the regulations respecting the speed of trains shall not authorize a speed exceeding at any time twenty-five miles an hour'.
The Light Railways Act 1896 did not specify any exceptions or limitations that should apply to light railways; it did not even attempt to define a 'light railway'. However, it gave powers to a panel of three Light Railway Commissioners to include 'provisions for the safety of the public... as they think necessary for the proper construction and working of the railway' in any light railway order (LRO) granted under the act. These could limit vehicle axle weights and speeds: the maximum speed of 25 miles per hour (mph) often associated with the Light Railways Act 1896 is not specified in the act but was a product of the earlier Regulation of Railways Act 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. c. 119). However, limits were particularly needed when lightly laid track and relatively modest bridges were used in order to keep costs down. LROs could also exempt light railways from some of the requirements of a normal railway: level crossings did not have to be protected by gates, but only by cattle grids, saving the cost of both the gates and a keeper to operate them. It did not exclude standard-gauge track, but narrow-gauge tracks were used for many railways built under its provisions. Many of the railways built under the auspices of the act were very basic, with little or no signalling (many ran under the 'one engine in steam' principle).
A number of municipal and company-owned street tramways were built or extended by the act, in preference to the Tramways Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 78). The procedure of the 1896 act was simpler, permission easier to obtain (local authorities had the right to veto lines under the 1870 legislation), and there was a 75% savings on rates payable as compared to a tramway.
The act was never a great success. By the 1920s the use of road transport had killed the majority of these little railways, although some survived thanks to clever management and tight financial control.
The act remains in force in Scotland. No new light railway orders were allowed to be issued for Scotland since 2007, with the last order granted in 2012.
Until the Transport and Works Act 1992 introduced transport works orders, heritage railways in the UK were operated under light railway orders.
Railways built under the act
Light railway orders
1897-1899
1897
Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway Order 1897 (C. 8749) East and West Yorkshire Union Light Railway Order 1897 (C. 8750) Flamborough and Bridlington Light Railways Order 1897 (C. 8807) Gower Light Railway Order 1897 (C. 9103) Hadlow Light Railway Order 1897 (C. 8751) Potteries Light Railways Order 1897 (C. 8748) West Hartlepool Light Railways Order 1897 (C. 9063) Wrington Vale Light Railway Order 1897 (C. 8803)
1898
Amesbury and Military Camp Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 9105) Bankfoot Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 9147) Barking and Beckton Light Railways Order 1898 (C. 9211) Bridlington and North Frodingham Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 8954) Caledonian Railway (Leadhills and Wanlockhead) Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 9064) Carmyllie Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 9065) Crowland and District Light Railways Order 1898 (C. 8844) Didcot and Watlington Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 9212) Dornoch Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 9066) Dudley and District Light Railways Order 1898 (C. 9104) Flamborough and Bridlington Light Railways (Amendment) Order 1898 (C. 9143) Forsinard, Melvich, and Port Skerra Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 8955) Gifford and Garvald Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 8956) Goole and Marshland Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 9067) Great Western Railway (Pewsey and Salisbury) Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 9071) Grimsby and Saltfleetby Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 9213) Isle of Axholme Light Railways Order 1898 (C. 9214) Isle of Thanet Light Railways Order 1898 (C. 9027) Kinver Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 9215) Lauder Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 8933) Leek, Caldon Low, and Hartington Light Railways Order 1898 (C. 9216) Liverpool and Prescot Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 9217) Lizard Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 8843) Llandudno and Colwyn Bay Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 9395) London United Tramways, Limited (Light Railway Extensions) Order 1898 (C. 9326) Middleton Light Railways Order 1898 (C. 9146) North Holderness Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 9102) North Shields, Tynemouth, and District Light Railways Order 1898 (C. 9218) North Sunderland Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 9070) Pewsey and Salisbury (Devizes Branch) Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 9068) Portsdown and Horndean Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 9540) St. George and Hanham Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 9145) Sheppey Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 9324) South Norfolk Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 9219) Tanat Valley Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 9144) Vale of Rheidol Light Railway (Aberayron Extension) Order 1898 (C. 9069) Ventnor Inclined Light Railway Order 1898 (C. 9220) West Highland Railway (Loch Fyne Light Railway) Order 1898 (C. 8957)
1899
Axminster and Lyme Regis Light Railway Order 1899 (C. 9394) Bradford and Leeds Light Railway Order 1899 (Cd. 58) Chatham and District Light Railways Order 1899 (C. 9544) Coggeshall Light Railway Order 1899 (Cd. 55) Corringham Light Railway Order 1899 (C. 9392) Cranbrook and Tenterden Light Railway Order 1899 (Cd. 62) Didcot and Watlington Light Railway Extensions Order 1899 (C. 9535) Doncaster Corporation Light Railways Order 1899 (Cd. 59) Fraserburgh and St. Combs Light Railway Order 1899 (C. 9538) Glasgow and South-western Railway (Maidens and Dunure Light Railway) Order 1899 (C. 9545) Glasgow and South-Western (Cairn Valley Light Railway) Order 1899 (Cd. 64) Merthyr Tydfil Light Railway Order 1899 (C. 9325) Penzance, Newlyn, and West Cornwall Light Railway Order 1999 (C. 9542) Poole and District Light Railway Order 1899 (C. 9543) Southend-on-Sea and District Light Railways Order 1899 (C. 9537) Trent Valley Light Railway Order 1899 (C. 9541) Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway Order 1899 (C. 9536) West Manchester Light Railways Order 1899 (C. 9393) Wick and Lybster Light Railway Order 1899 (Cd. 63)
1900-1909
1900
Barnsley and District Light Railway Order 1900 (Cd. 390) Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway (Amendment) Order 1900 (Cd. 65) Bere Alston and Calstock Light Railway Order 1900 (Cd. 272) Bexhill and St. Leonards Light Railway Order 1900 (Cd. 233) Bromsgrove Light Railways Order 1900 (Cd. 394) Callington Light Railway Order 1900 (Cd. 192) Cheltenham and District Light Railway Order 1900 (Cd. 236) Cheltenham and District Light Railway (Extension) Order 1900 (Cd. 234) Dudley and District Light Railways (Extensions) Order 1900 (Cd. 194) Essington and Ashmore Light Railway Order 1900 (Cd. 61) Gateshead and District Light Railway Order 1900 (Cd. 392) Highbridge, Wedmore, and Cheddar Light Railway Order 1900 (Cd. 242) Isle of Thanet Light Railways (Extensions) Order 1900 (Cd. 105) Lastingham and Rosedale Light Railway Order 1900 (Cd. 388) Mid-Suffolk Light Railway Order 1900 (Cd. 191) North Lindsey Light Railways Order 1900 (Cd. 56) North Lincolnshire Light Railway Order 1900 (Cd. 57) North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways (Beddgelert Light Railway Extension) Order 1900 (Cd. 389) Peterborough and District Light Railways Order 1900 (Cd. 395) Redditch and District Light Railways Order 1900 (Cd. 60) Rhyl and Prestatyn Light Railway Order 1900 (Cd. 193) Robertsbridge and Pevensey Light Railway Order 1900 (Cd. 235) South Staffordshire Light Railway Order 1900 (Cd. 391) South Staffordshire Light Railway (Extensions) Order 1900 (Cd. 393)
1901
Bardfield and Sible Hedingham Light Railway Order 1901 Barrowford Light Railway Order 1901 Bath and District Light Railways Order 1901 Blackburn, Whalley, and Padiham Light Railways Order 1901 Blackpool and Garstang Light Railway Order 1901 Central Essex Light Railway Order 1901 Brackenhill Light Railway Order 1901 Cleobury Mortimer and Ditton Priors Light Railway Order 1901 Colne and Trawden Light Railways Order 1901 (Cd. 738) County of Middlesex Light Railways Order 1901 East Sussex Light Railway Order 1901 Halesowen Light Railways Order 1901 Jarrow and South Shields Light Railways Order 1901 Kelvedon, Tiptree, and Tollesbury Light Railway Order 1901 Maidstone and Faversham Junction Light Railway Order 1901 Mansfield and District Light Railways Order 1901 (Cd. 651) Nelson Light Railway Order 1901 Ormskirk and Southport Light Railways Order 1901 Spen Valley Light Railway Order 1901 Spen Valley Light Railway (Extensions) Order 1901 Tickhill Light Railway Order 1901 Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway (Amendment) Order 1901 Worcester and District Light Railways Order 1901
1902
Barnsley and District Light Railway (Extension) Order 1902 (Cd. 1245) Bentley and Bordon Light Railway Order 1902 Colne and Trawden Light Railways (Capital and Further Powers Amendment) Order 1902 (Cd. 1247) Cromarty and Dingwall Light Railway Order 1902 Crowland and District Light Railways (Amendment) Order 1902 Darlington Light Railways Order 1902 (Cd. 1249) Dartford Light Railway Order 1902 (Cd. 1017) Derwent Valley Light Railway Order 1902 (Cd. 1246) Doncaster Corporation Light Railways (Deviation &c.) Order 1902 Essington and Ashmore Light Railway (Amendment and Extension) Order 1902 Grimsby and Saltfleetby Light Railway (Amendment) Order 1902 (Cd. 1137) Halesowen Light Railways (Extensions) Order 1902 Holmfield and South Owram Light Railway Order 1902 (Cd. 1195) Llanelly and District Light Railway Order 1902 (Cd. 1248) Middleton Light Railways (Deviation, &c.) Order 1902 Orpington, Cudham, and Tatsfield Light Railway Order 1902 Rother Valley (Light) Railway Order 1902 Worcester (Extension) Light Railways Order 1902
1903
Avonmouth Light Railway Order 1903 (Cd. 1866) Bankfoot Light Railway (Extension of Time) Order 1903 (Cd. 1859) Bath Electric Tramways (Light Railways Extensions) Order 1903 Barrowford Light Railway Order 1901 (Transfer, &c.) Order 1903 Bere Alston and Calstock Light Railway (Extension of Time) Order 1903 Burton and Ashby Light Railway Order 1903