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Train enthusiasts are renowned for being rather dedicated to their somewhat niche pastime.
But the ambitions of even most passionate might hit the buffers at the prospect of building a working steam railway in their garden.
Not the late Adrian Shooter CBE, however, who loved trains so much he constructed a mile-long, figure-of-eight track in the grounds of his north Oxfordshire home.
And now his locomotive – said to be the world’s oldest working steam train – is being sold for £200,000 as part of the transport boss’s amazing garden railway.
He acquired his one-of-a-kind engine, used on the famous Darjeeling Himalayan Railway in India in the late 19th century, to run on his narrow-gauge line.
Adrian Shooter CBE, who died at the age of 74 last December, installed a mile of track in his garden
His widow Barbara is handling the sale, which was Mr Shooter’s dying wish. The whole collection is expected to fetch £350,000
Built in 1889, the 19B Darjeeling B Class locomotive is the only one to have ever left India – and it is leading the sale of a 200-lot collection of railway pieces amassed by Mr Shooter.
The whole collection, which also includes a 1930 electric London Post Office Railway Car, is expected to fetch £350,000.
Mr Shooter joined British Rail as a management trainee in 1970 and went on to become the head of the privatised Chiltern Railways.
Mr Shooter built a large loop and a station in his garden. The train enthusiast bought a 19B Darjeeling B Class locomotive for his mini-railway – the only one to have ever left India
The whole collection, which also includes a 1930 electric London Post Office Railway Car, is expected to fetch £350,000
Mr Shooter joined British Rail as a management trainee in 1970 and went on to become the head of the privatised Chiltern Railways
A one-of-a kind locomotive that was used on the famous Darjeeling Himalayan (mountain) line in India in the late 19th century is the leading lot in the sale
A statue of him is displayed at Marylebone station in London. He built the Beeches Light Railway at his home in Steeple Aston, near Bicester, in his spare time and ran it with volunteers.
Mr Shooter also acquired other locomotives and had replica carriages made to carry passengers.
He was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in February 2022 and died at 74 in December.
Mr Shooter’s widow Barbara is handling the sale, along with HJ Pugh Auctioneers of Ledbury, Herefordshire
He built the Beeches Light Railway at his home in Steeple Aston, near Bicester, in his spare time and ran it with volunteers
Also part of the sale is this Model T petrol car modified to run on 2ft gauge railway. It has been fitted with a turntable allowing the car to be lifted from the rails turned and then lowered to face in the opposite direction
The inside of the carriage of the world’s oldest working steam train. It was Mr Shooter’s dying wish that the railway be ripped up and sold with the rolling stock
Part of the sale is London Post Office Railway Car Number 760 (latterly renumbered 37) built in 1930 built for the 6.5-mile long 2ft gauge London Post Office Railway
It was his dying wish that the railway be ripped up and sold with the rolling stock. Mr Shooter’s widow Barbara is handling the sale, along with HJ Pugh Auctioneers of Ledbury, Herefordshire.
Speaking of Mr Shooter’s passion for trains, Henry Biss, of HJ Pugh, said: ‘It’s all going under the hammer on June 21 and the star of the show is the 19B Darjeeling locomotive which is the oldest boiler steam train in the world.’
