Royal Arsenal Railway

The Royal Arsenal Railway was a private military railway. It ran inside the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, southeast London.

The earliest parts of this railway system proper were constructed to standard gauge from 1859 onwards as a to replace an ad hoc arrangement of individual plateways. Laying of plateways had started in 1824 and was completed by 1854-5; they then came under the control of the Corps of Royal Engineers. From 1871 onwards some of the track was constructed as 18 in (457 mm) gauge and it comprised some 50 to 60 miles (80 to 97 km) of track. It ran in some form from 1871 until much of it was abandoned after the First World War. The remains of the system continued in use until after the Second World War, with the final trains running in 1966.

Parts of the 18 in gauge track were built as dual gauge track, with the outer rails gauged to standard gauge; other parts of the site were only served by standard gauge track. Some 120 miles (190 km) of mixed or purely standard gauge track existed by 1918. Some 1 ft 11 ¹⁄₂ in (597 mm) narrow gauge track existed at the site.

Construction of an 18 in (457 mm) gauge railway was approved in 1866. The Crimean war had caused a major increase in ammunition production and the railway was needed to move materiel around the site. The railway was based on the Crewe Works Railway which had been operating since 1862 inside the London and North Western Railway's Crewe Works.

...
Wikipedia