Beer Heights Light Railway

Beer Heights Light Railway

Steam locomotive 'Claudine' running round its train at the terminus.
Dates of operation	14 July 1975–Present
Track gauge	7 1⁄4 in (184 mm)

The Beer Heights Light Railway operates 1 mile (1.6 km) of minimum gauge 7 ¹⁄₄ in (184 mm) track at Beer, Devon, England. It is part of Pecorama, an exhibition owned by Peco.

The official opening was by Rev. W.V. Awdry on 14 July 1975, at which time it offered a return ride from "Much Natter" station via a balloon loop. Subsequently, it was almost doubled in length by construction of the "Devil's Gorge" extension which involved a very considerable cutting, and the complex track layout also includes a more recent steeply-graded branch line to "Wildway Down". The station at Deepwater was revamped in late 2014 and reopened in July 2015 as 'Deepwater Halt'.

The line is notable for its high standard of presentation to the public and for the fine views obtainable from it. It is home to eight steam locomotives designed on narrow gauge principles.

The railway currently has eight steam locomotives, two diesel and one electric. A locomotive called 'Finn MacCool' also visits every summer (usually July – September) from the Belfast and County Down Miniature Railway Society, Northern Ireland, to help out in the peak season. Other locomotives also visit during the 'Loco Week' and 'Bank Holiday Weekend Gala' in August.

A steam locomotive driver got badly burned after a malfunction of a tank engine boiler on the Beer Heights Light Railway. The driver of the short but very powerful steam locomotive Samastipur, which had been built by the Exmoor Steam Railway in 1999 and named after the Samastipur Junction railway station in India, was showered a with hot cinders and boiling water, when a pressure plug of his locomotive malfunctioned. The cause of the accident was a fusible plug falling out of the thread into which it was inserted. The purpose of this safety device, which is an essential feature of steam locomotives is that it melts away and emits a sound to warn the driver when a low water level could cause an explosion. The plug had been inadvertently given a clean bill of health during two inspections in December 2013 and March 2014, although the thread was apparently severely corroded and beyond the threshold of what is acceptable.