Bill on track with back garden rail line in Shropshire

Shropshire train buff Bill Barritt is so hooked on railways he decided to rekindle his love affair with the tracks by building his own line in his back garden near Bridgnorth.

Mr Barritt, aged 80, spent more than three years getting the miniature railway pieced together and has spent thousands of pounds on his labour of love.

Click on the image to the right for photos

The train alone, which runs round Mr Barritt’s two thirds of a mile of track behind his home in Tasley, cost £12,000 and came from America.

The whole project got off the ground when Mr Barritt was talked into achieving his lifelong ambition by his 81-year-old wife Patricia.

He said: “Patricia told me I should build a railway because she knew I had always wanted to.

“I didn’t work on it non-stop. Some times I would take a break of a week or two and I got a lot of help from my gardener with the physical work.”

Ever since he was a child Mr Barritt has had a passion for railways, regularly travelling on trains around Shropshire as he was growing up. Many of the lines he used to travel on with his family disappeared following Dr Beeching’s cuts, victims of modern day progress.

Only the Severn Valley Railway between Bridgnorth and Kidderminster remains as a reminder of the glory days of the steam era.

Mr Barritt, a retired accountant who moved into his home seven years ago, has now officially opened the Leasowes Light Railway Company.

Mr Barritt and his wife have four children and 12 grandchildren, all of whom have taken a trip round his track at one time or another.

By Simon Hardy