Fawley Museum
Welcome to the Fawley Museum website.
Fawley Museum is a private museum established in the 1960s by the late Sir William McAlpine at his estate near Henley on Thames. It hosts a fine collection of memorabilia and models relating to railways and other forms of transport together with a working standard gauge railway operating on the steepest gradient in the country.
Since its inception, the railway and museum have grown steadily with artefacts and buildings arriving from locations all around the the country. Many buildings have been rescued and reassembled at Fawley Hill to save them from demolition, creating a unique urban landscape in a country estate. More detail of this can be found at our History of the Railway page.
The museum includes a wide range of interesting and unusual transport artefacts which will appeal to visitors of all ages. The park contains a variety of animals including rheas, peacocks, wallabies and many species of deer.
The museum and railway are open on a limited number of days during the year and admission is only by prior application and invitation. Capacity is limited and tickets are not available on the day. For more information, please visit our Events page.
Fawley Museum is run and staffed entirely by a group of friendly volunteers who undertake almost all of the necessary maintenance tasks associated with a working railway. If you would like to join our team and contribute to the day-to-day operation of the museum in a highly sociable environment, further information can be found on our Volunteering page. We have a need for a variety of skills so you don't have to be an expert on railways.
Credit: Lucy Leo
September Update
So, meteorological autumn is here and there has been a noticeable drop in the temperature. The August Invitation Day saw a fine mixture of Corvette Stingrays and old MGs on display outside the garage. As usual, you can see these on our Visiting Motor Clubs page.
While work has been progressing well on No. 31 at Didcot, we have managed to persuade Jack Dibnah to bring back his delightful Witch Class Saddle Tank for the final events of the year which will include the last Invitation Day and our Members' Day. Jack's loco can be seen on the Visiting Locos page.
Our L & Y coach ‘Judy’ is back in action after it's light overhaul and repaint. Attention has now shifted to work on the two Shark brake vans, one of which had its wheelsets replaced at the beginning of the month and is having work carried out to replace worn brake shoes.
There are plenty more interesting projects like this on both the railway and in the museum so, if you would like to come and join our friendly volunteer team to work with us on these, please drop us a line through the contact form below or through the Volunteering page
We are now starting to plan our programme of events for next year. If you are thinking of coming to visit us in 2025, either for an Invitation Day or bringing a group for a private visit, please contact us to express your interest.
Volunteers at Work:
Tim works on No. 31 at Didcot, while Graham helps with the renovation of coach 'Judy' at Fawley
Our enthusiastic and knowledgeable volunteers look forward to welcoming you to Fawley Museum soon.
Details about the Fawley Hill Estate can be found at www.fawleyhill.co.uk
We hope that you enjoy browsing the pages of the web-site. If you have any comments or questions, please get in touch using the contact form at the bottom of each web-page.