The Heatherslaw Light Railway is a gauge passenger carrying railway near Ford, Northumberland, England, close to the border with Scotland. Founded by Neville Smith, the railway opened in 1989 on the Ford and Etal estate. It operates over a route from Heatherslaw to Etal Village, a return trip of. The railway operates an hourly service with steam trains from March to October and diesel trains in February half-term. Steam hauled Santa Specials run on selected weekends in December. The passenger coaches include facilities for transporting wheelchairs and buggies, and a typical summer season eight-coach train can convey up to 90 passengers.
Motive power
The railway's first locomotive from its opening was a steam engine named "The Lady Augusta". Lady Augusta was built nominally built by the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway but was subcontracted to Kirklees Light Railway and entered service in 1989. Lady Augusta became the spare loco when Bunty arrived. Although it is expected that Lady Augusta would leave the railway at the end of 2015 she was retained for occasional use and to cover periods of maintenance on Bunty. The second locomotive was a diesel hydraulic locomotive named "Clive" is used for works train. This was built on site at Heatherslaw by Neville Smith and Sid Ford and was rebuilt in 2018 with a partial rebody. In 2010, a third locomotive partially built by Neville Smith and completed by Alan Keef. The loco has been named "Bunty", Neville's nickname for his wife, Bernice. A new builddiesel locomotive 'Binky' was built in house during 2015 becoming the railway's fourth locomotive and entered service at the start of 2016, Bunty will remain the main locomotive hauling passenger trains. Binky is used for February half-term trains and as the 'Thunderbird' loco.
Stations
The station at Heatherslaw features an overall roof covering one concrete-slabbed platform; turntable, a third line serves as a locomotive release road for engines to run round trains; there are also storage sidings and sheds, as well as a ticket office and shop. The station at Etal Castle has a simple terminal run round loop and a turntable. The provision of turntables at both ends of the line allows for the locos to always run facing forwards whilst on passenger trains.
