A FASCINATING cache of railway curios that will capture the imagination of collectors the world over is going under the hammer.

Hidden away in the grounds of Holywath, the Coniston home of the late Major John Hext MBE, was a 7¼-inch gauge railway which became known as The Coniston Railway.

  • A video shows part of the railway in action.

The construction and operation of it was a lifetime’s work for the Major, who had for many years wanted a railway of his own in his garden before construction began in 1953.

And now, it is set to go up for auction by Michael C.L. Hodgson on Saturday, May 26, at 11am, at The Coniston Institute.

Viewing of the many items available will take place on Friday, May 25 from 11am to 5pm and on the morning of the sale from 9am.

Major Hext, who died aged 92 in January 2009, developed and operated the miniature steam railway in the grounds of his house for more than 50 years.

His son Jonathan told The Gazette his father had always been interested in railways.

“He was a big railway enthusiast. He spent a lot of his spare time working on it right up until he was in his 80s.

“As children, my brother and I got involved with it and helped him out now and again as we got older.

“It was quite an unusual pastime and quite an unusual collection really. Up until the mid-1970s, he would put a board out in the village which would say that the railway was open for people to go on.

“It was really popular. He would get about 20 people on the trains at a time. It could go at about 20 miles an hour downhill, which always felt quite fast.

“Apparently there is quite a lot of interest in this sale. The collection is one of those things that don’t come up very often.”

The railway started in 1955 as a short line between the present Holywath siding and Boon Beck, and once the first objective was achieved, the Major began extending it.Through the woodland, between the lawns of Holywath and Church Beck, the line was extended to Copperhouse Lower.

The modernisation of the rail network meant there were plenty of chances for the Major to assemble a unique collection of shunting signals, operated from redundant signalling frames, and a former Furness Railway ground frame cabin.

The closure of the Coniston branch to passengers in October 1958 and goods in April 1962 was another opportunity not to be missed and a ground frame cabin was bought and moved in 1963, plus other signalling equipment.

The first locomotive to arrive at Coniston, ‘Holywath’ was built for a similar railway in the grounds of ‘The Grange’, Kenton, near Harrow, and it began running during May 1955.

In 1964, ‘Josephine’, was acquired, and the final addition to the fleet was again an ex-Kenton built steam locomotive, ‘Henrietta’, originally based on an American design, but made to look British before delivery to Coniston in 1977.

The family association with Holywath started with John Barrat, a mining engineer from Devon, who moved north to manage the Coniston Copper Mines.

He also established the Hodbarrow iron ore mines – which became one of the richest in Europe.