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.
Autumn Update;
Welcome to the latest web-site update.
Our 2025 season finished in mid-September after the seventh Invitation Day, followed the following weekend by our Members’ Day. Prior to that, Fawley Hill played host again to the National Transport Trust for their annual award ceremony. Many thanks to Jack Dibnah for bringing his diminutive 0-4-0T loco 'Witch' to entertain us on the hill and for all those who displayed some superbly restored vehicles.
The ceremony was attended by Neil Dudgeon, known to millions of Midsomer Murders fans as DCI John Barnaby. What brought him to Fawley Hill? Is it the site of another murder? When will Season 25 be released? All questions that will be answered in the fulness of time.
Now that the season is complete, we have commenced vital maintenance work on the railway infrastructure before the weather closes in and the deer start rutting, limiting access into the park.
We are already receiving a lot of enquiries about our programme of events for next year. We have decided to host the same number of Invitation Days as 2025, and we will be contacting applicants with the dates in the next few weeks. If you are not yet on our mailing list and would like tickets, please contact us through the e-mail address on our Events page or by using the contact form at the bottom of the page.
If you would like to join us a volunteer, we would love to hear from you. There is a wide range of activities open to newcomers, both on the railway and in the Museum, and rail-related experience is not necessary (but it is welcome). Please contact us through the e-mail address on our Volunteering page or by using the contact form at the bottom of the page.
Finally, we now have a presence on Instagram and will be adding content on a regular basis. Just look for Fawley Hill Railway.
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.
