Sutton Miniature Railway Collection

Andy has worked his magic on the lettering today.

No.1 indeed. What a fine looking locomotive Sutton Belle is going to be!

https://vintagetrains.enthuse.com/SMR #!/

We are a group of volunteers restoring the rolling stock of the much missed Sutton Miniature Railway. Based in Birmingham, we hope to run the trains again in the city they once called home and revive memories for the thousands of Brummies who rode behind them in the 1950's and 1960's.

Make a donation to the Sutton Miniature Railway appeal Make a donation to the Sutton Miniature Railway appeal

Whilst the boiler build continues, Andy has been working on Sutton Belle's Tender. How good does that look?!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all the Volunteers on the project to all the sponsors and supporters of the project
2024 will be agood year for the locomotives and rolling stock

From all the team SMR

All set up for the weekend covers come off in the morning on the progress of thr restoration of Sutton Belle

New boiler tubes have just arrived and the bottom end of the tender is looking great.

We'll be at the Warley Model Railway Club & Exhibition this weekend, with a partially restored Sutton Belle. Please come and say hello.

Great news, Sutton Belle's new boiler is starting to take shape. Your generous donations have got us this far, but we still have some way to go before we have a complete boiler ready for testing.

We are now looking to raise the funds for the 43 x tubes required to complete the boiler. These can be sponsored at a cost of just £25 each. If you are able to provide financial support, you can now do it through the Vintage Trains fundraising page https://vintagetrains.enthuse.com/SMR #!/

Thank you all for your generosity and support to date.

Our Thursday night team at Tyseley making excellent progress stripping Coach Number 3. The galvanised steel body panels and wooden frame are all pretty sound so we should be able to start getting some new coats of paint on very soon.

You can now donate to us via the Vintage Trains website! Please consider helping us, any amount helps from £3 for a side stay on the boiler or £25 for a boiler tube.

Make a donation to the Sutton Miniature Railway appeal Make a donation to the Sutton Miniature Railway appeal

Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we are making great progress and have now been able to make a start on Belle's new build boiler. Plates for the new firebox have been purchased, machined and tacked together. We have also just received a substantial donation from The Friends of Vintage Trains to cover the cost of the boiler barrel.

We still have a long way to go and need to raise much more money to get the new boiler built and tested. For example, £3 buys us a side stay (we need 54 of those), £6 buys a crown stay (we need 6 of those), £25 buys a flue tube (we need 43 of those). £200 buys the dome top (we need 1 of those). £500 buys an injector or water gauge glass (we need 2 each of those).

You can make donations online via our JustGiving page. Every penny helps and we are very grateful for your support.

If you choose to Gift Aid your donation this increases the amount by a further 25%.

www.justgiving.com/campaign/smr

A productive day today making a start on our 15" permanent way at Tyseley. This is small but important step towards achieving our larger site development goals.

These are exciting times towards creating a permanent home for the Sutton Miniature Railway Collection. If you want to get involved as a volunteer or supporter, please get in touch with us now.

Great work by our Thursday night team in the restoration of our Coal truck. It looks too good to use!
https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/smr

We're down at the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway gala this weekend. Come over to platform at New Romney to say hello to a couple of our volunteers and ride behind Count Louis on the shuttle service!

With the coronation of the King successfully navigated, we thought it'd be nice to share this photo. It shows Sutton Flyer, carrying a special headboard to celebrate the coronation of the late Queen Elizabeth II in the summer of 1953, while running round it's train at Sutton Park station. This and many more photos are available in both books on the SMR by JG Tidmarsh, message the page if you're interested in purchsing both copies for the special price of £13 posted.

With work progressing quickly on Sutton Belle’s frames and running gear, we are now seeking sponsors to help fund a new build boiler that will conform to current safety standards. With a generous offer to fund the Barrel (the largest single item) by Friends of Vintage Trains, we have already got off to a flying start!

We have a range of boiler components available to sponsor starting from just £3 each. Every penny of your donation will go directly to the boiler build and all sponsors will be enrolled in to the SMR patrons club and receive regular progress updates.

The Boiler Components available to sponsor are as follows:

43 x Flue Tubes @ £25 each
1 x Boiler Barrel @ £1300 (Now Sponsored)
1 x Tube Plate Front @ £200
1 x Dome Securing Ring@ £200
1 x Dome Top@ £200
1 x Back-Head Plate@ £200
1 x Throat Plate@ £200
1 x Firebox External Side Plate@ £200
1 x Firebox Crown/Side Plate@ £200
1 x Firebox Tube Plate@ £200
1 x Firebox Back-Head Plate @ £200 (Now Sponsored)
1 x Firebox Hole Plate @ £200
1 x Dome Tube @ £40
1 x Dome Top Ring @ £25
54 x Side Stays @ £3 each
3 x Longitudinal stays @ £15
18 x Crown Stays @ £6 each
1 x Dome Fl**ge @ £30
1 x Foundation Ring @ £22

If you are able to help, please email us at [email protected] and let us know which component(s) you would like to sponsor. We will confirm availability and then advise you to make your donation by one of the following methods:

Online at: www.justgiving.com/campaign/smr - This is our preferred option as Gift Aid will be automatically added for UK Taxpayers.

By cheque made payable to Vintage Trains Community Trust (Please write ‘SMR Boiler Appeal’ on reverse).

Bank Transfer – Account Details will be provided upon request.

Bringing Sutton Belle back into operation will be a major milestone in our plans for the Sutton Miniature Railway Collection and our own miniature railway plans. Your support no matter how small will be gratefully received.

As you can see, work on Sutton Belle's frames is progressing well and at pace.

We have an opportunity to start work on the new boiler build immediately but need help to fund it. We have an immediate requirement to raise an initial £3000 to fund the purchase of steel platework to build the firebox.

You can donate at www.justgiving.com/campaign/smr or contact us directly if you wish to donate directly and avoid platform fees.

Work progressing on Sutton Belle

Cleaning and Painting along with reassembling the valvegear to see how much ware there is and what needs to be re bushed or replaced

We still need donations for the new boiler materials and for new bushes for the motion
Paint and paint stripper

No.1 Locomotive - Sutton Belle Update:

The frames are now in the workshop and multiple layers of paint have been stripped back to bare metal. We have a little more scraping to do before we can start priming the metal.

The rear drag box (not shown) had sustained serious damage and had been repaired with welded platework. The front buffer beam (pictured) is also bent from heavy shunts. Both will be replaced using higher gauge steel.

Once the frames have been painted, we will start reassembling the bottom end to give us a rolling chassis to work on.

The original boiler (pictured) corroded badly in the coastal air and will have to be scrapped. CAD drawings have now been made for a new design boiler with modern safety standards. A boiler fundraising campaign is to be launched shortly to fund the materials required for the boiler build – estimated at around £5000.

We have many of the components cleaned and ready to be refitted – so the boiler is our next big milestone. We have some really exciting plans for this locomotive, so please watch this space.

You can donate at www.justgiving.com/campaign/smr of contact us directly if you wish to donate directly and avoid platform fees.

Happy new year everyone! Apologies we haven't posted in a while but here's an update.
The gang have focussed efforts on the coal wagon, and we're now at a stage where the sides and ends just need a varnish.
The chassis however is a much bigger job. In the way of these things, we've discovered that one of the chassis beams has rotted (the chassis is wooden). A replacement beam has been sourced and is now being cut to size and the necessary hole will be added in due course.
This has all been aided by the fact we've been able to work in the LMCRA building which has the benefit of heating, light and electricity without the need to run the generator.
More updates soon. ~ Pete A

Thanks to everyone who's placed orders for books so far. All orders have been posted but are likely to be delayed in delivery due to industrial action at Royal Mail. For the time being I am suspending further orders until after Christmas to ensure orders are received in a timely manner. Please do let me know if you'd like copies of the books by messaging the page directly and I will make sure they are ready for dispatch in the New Year. I can now confirm the price of a pair of books going forward will be £10 including postage.

Thanks again to everyone who purchased merchandise from our stand at Warley. Your generous contributions have raised over £300 which will help further our cause as we head into 2023.

Peter - Merchandise manager

Thank you to everyone that came to see No 2. loco Sutton Flyer on the Vintage Trains stand at Warley this weekend. Brilliant to hear the happy memories of those that remember the SMR in its heyday and lots of positive support in what we are doing to get the collection restored and back in to use. Exciting times for all the team here at Vintage Trains.

If you're at Warley Model Railway Club & Exhibition today, come and find us on stand E23 with Friends of Vintage Trains
We have books and mugs for sale!

Sutton Flyer on her way to Warley Model Rail Show
On public display for the first time in many years

Come say hello stand E22

And see what the next chapter holds for the Sutton Miniature Railway Locomotives and Coaches

So this evening I've been stocktaking while the others are hard at work. We have lots of copies of the 2 books by JG Tidmarsh about the SMR, and will be selling them for £5 a pair at Warley National Model Railway Exhibition 2022 . If you'd like copies of the books and can't make it to Warley, contact the admins of this page and we can organise a pair of books for £5 plus postage. A nice stocking filler for the 15 inch gauge enthusiast in your life!
Please note I only go to Tyseley on Thursdays so orders placed may not be posted for up to a week after I receive them.