The 12¼" gauge 1¼ mile long Exbury Steam Railway (MR p18) features a continuous public run, without reversal, starting and ending at Exbury Central station. There is one intermediate station stop, Exbury North. This covers all the running lines except the rare third side of the triangle which our tour was organised especially to include. Adult entrance to the Gardens in 2019 was £13.75 or combined with the Railway £18.75 - with the usual concessions - but our organiser had negotiated a special £15 rate. A key feature of the gardens is the rhododendron display, which was near its best on 1 June. The Gardens had been thoroughly resigned throughout in 2019 with new clear maps showing walking routes and features. 24 members and the organiser's faithful dog (who has featured in BLN before, see e-BLN 1302.MR65) assembled for the 11.15 departure. Loco 'Mariloo' No326 arrived tender first on the previous working and ran round without turning on the turntable, so was ready to depart smokebox first at 11.18. The rare non-public third side of the triangle was achieved without reversal by additional circuits and running opposite to the normal direction of travel. There is signalling only at Exbury Central and one train working was in operation. Points are mostly loose with weighted bias to the last route trailed and taken in facing moves this way. Points accessing sidings are not weighted but have hand levers.

The initial route taken was as shown with the numbered arrows in Peter Scott's track plan. The 'Exbury Gardens and Steam Railway' brand is now used throughout most material, putting the Railway on equal status with the Gardens. Entering the tunnel loop (arrow 1) the rare curve converged left and was very rusty. The bridge taking the track over the returning loop is new and of all steel construction, freshly painted in red oxide. Just beyond this bridge we took the new longer 2019 deviation straight ahead, the trackless formation of the previous shorter route diverged right and later converged right just before entering the tunnel. After the tunnel the train passes under the steel bridge and further on converges with the part of the route traversed in both directions on normal services (arrows 2 & 4).

Past the Rock Garden a 2018 realignment is taken, the trackless formation of the previous Viaduct route diverges left. The wooden viaduct is still in place and visibly in good condition. Wooden viaducts have maintenance problems as was found in Cornwall where there were 42 on the standard gauge -the last one, on the Falmouth branch, was replaced by a stone one on 22 Jul 1934. At Exbury Gardens retention of appropriate track top and line under train loading will have been difficult on its viaduct.

Before convergence (left) of the former Viaduct route, the present divergence for the Exbury North Loop is normally traversed anticlockwise (arrow 3). However, our train diverged left and unusually ran clockwise instead without stopping at Exbury North; then, after the second level crossing the trackless formation of the pre-2017 shorter inner return loop route was seen diverging right.



The train stopped at the not yet open Dragonfly Halt. Here the gravel platform (on the right in this clockwise direction of travel) was complete and had two Exbury Steam Railway style running in boards. A photo stop followed. The party was told that opening was pending revised insurance arrangements required by the deep water of the adjacent Dragonfly Pond which is fenced all the way round. It didn't look very deep to your reporter so maybe that is the issue!

Further on, the trackless formation of the pre-2017 shorter route trailed in left, the points are retained for a short, and rusty, siding. These points had a normal lie for the running line. The trackless formation for the pre-2018 Viaduct route diverged right before the points converged right at the end of the Exbury North Loop. The train was now on section '4'. This time it took the tunnel loop in the unusual direction of travel, under the bridge before reaching the tunnel. This permitted a run onto the rare curve without stopping and a repeat of the run round the Exbury North Loop, this time anticlockwise and stopping at Exbury North, but not Dragonfly Halt. Return to Exbury Central was by the usual route (arrow 5). After participants had alighted, the loco ran round and this time was turned on the turntable to be smokebox first again for the 12.00 service, which left at 12.04 due to the train being full with people turned away. Once it had departed, we were invited to visit the Carriage Shed and Exhibition. Our thanks to the helpful Exbury Steam Railway staff for the extra effort put in to this complete passage of all the running lines. After the trip our group could look round the delightful gardens, readmission was possible and some also enjoyed a light lunch at the café there.