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.
Bambi, our very special and (almost) tame deer died naturally following a leg injury in October.
RIP little one.
Christmas Update
As 2024 draws to a close, the volunteers at Fawley are taking a well-earned break to enjoy some quality time with friends and family. We reflect on another successful year at the Museum, despite our resident steam engine, No 31, going sick. The good news is that repairs are proceeding well at Didcot Railway Centre, and we expect to have her back next spring. Although we cannot guarantee steam haulage on any particular day for technical reasons, we are planning to have a steam engine in operation at each of our Invitation Days in 2025.
Our Class 08 diesel shunter, D2120, is also undergoing winter repairs. Sluggish performance during the year was eventually traced to a worn fuel pump and this is now being repaired by a specialist company. We are looking forward to sparkling performance from this locomotive next year, following reinstallation of the pump and commissioning.
We are already seeing a lot of interest for our programme of Invitation Days for 2025. 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.
We would like to wish all of our web-site viewers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and we look forward to welcoming many of you to our events at Fawley in 2025.
If you have any queries or suggestions for the web-site, please let us know in the contact form at the bottom of the page.
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.
