The Sutton Miniature Railway (SMR) is a minimum-gauge railway that primarily served residents and tourists visiting Sutton Park near Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, England. The original SMR is no longer in use but the collection and track is currently under refurbishment and rebuilding at Tyseley Locomotive Works in the West Midlands, as the Tyseley Miniature Railway Project.
The SMR was first opened in Sutton Park by the company Miniature railways of Great Britain Limited in 1907, and ran for a distance of .
For its first season the railway used a smaller 10 1/4" gauge and a small locomotive Nipper. Popularity of the line grew with its association with the adjacement amusement park known locally as the 'Crystal Palace'. In 1908 the railway was rebuilt to a 15" gauge, and extended to with run-round loops at each end. The new layout ran a new locomotive, 'Mighty Atom', built by Messrs. Basset Lowke at their Northampton Works. 'Mighty Atom' pulled three 12-seater bogie open coaches on this line up until 1914. The outbreak of World War I led to a temporary closure of the SMR. Some time after 1914 the locomotive 'Mighty Atom' was sold for use elsewhere but it did return to Sutton in 1938. After WWI the railway did eventually reopen in around 1921-22, but this was short lived and by 1925 the site was unused and had started to become derelict.
Around 1937 a Mr Pat Collins acquired another miniature railway The Great Yarmouth Railway and moved it to Sutton in 1938. At this time the track was extended into a longer approximately ballon loop, and services resumed with the locomotive The Prince of Wales, being the renamed Mighty Atom from its time at Great Yarmouth. The Great Yarmouth purchase also included 3no. coverered coaches, built in 1931. These were historically a railcar originally built by Parkinsons for the Yarmouth Miniature Railway. It was a novel petrol-electric design comprising a 2-coach set powered by an Austin 7 petrol car engine, in turn driving a 6 kW electric generator, in turn powering 2no. 2.5 hp electric traction motors. When purchased by the SMR in 1937 the powered set was converted to ordinary "dumb" coaching stock.
In 1948 SMR was acquired by Mr T.G.Hunt, and various changes and improvements were instigated by him at that time to the track, workshops, and station buildings. In the 1950's three further covered coaches were built, to the same design as the "Parkinson" 2-car rail-car set, and 4no. open coaches "toast-rack" open carriages, all built by Hunt Brothers.
The SMR's heyday was the 1950's, combined with the adjacent amusement park the trains were extremely popular. In one particularly busy bank holiday, the track and trains transported over 12,000 people in a single day. Unfortunately, with the lease on the amusement park expiring, the fortunes and fate of the SMR was intertwined, and it closed in 1962, with all trains, carriages, track and equipment being put into store
After closing in 1962, the SMR collection went into storage for around 40 years until 2000 it was acquired with Lottery Heritage funding and operated by the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway (CCLR). Whilst a popular addition to the Cleethorpes attraction, the SMR collection placed additional maintenance burdens that were not viable in the long term.
In the early 2020's the collection was acquired by Vintage Trains in Tyseley, West Midlands, and the Tysleley Miniature railway project was set up to go about refurbishing the engines and carriages, and laying track to ultimately provide educational operational services in the future. The restoration work is largely being undertaken by a team of dedicated volunteers.
Current locomotives in the SMR collection:
Locomotives which have worked on the SMR: