UK Heritage Line Suggestions?

Hi Everyone,

My fiancé and I are starting to plan a week-long trip to London that we'd like to take in the next few years. We'd like to use as much public transportation as possible, preferably by rail.

We'd like to fly JetBlue from JFK to Gatwick, then take the Gatwick Express to Victoria. I see there's a Doubletree by Hilton next door to Victoria Station which I feel would be a good base of operations being so close to the Underground and Network Rail.

A few things we'd like to do are...
[*]A day trip to the Isle of Wight to ride the Island Line and Steam Railway, via the train to Portsmouth Harbor and ferry to Ryde
[*]A visit to the National Railway Museum in York, via the train from King's Cross
[*]A day trip to Brighton to walk along the beach, via the train from Victoria
[*]A visit to the London Transport Museum, and/or arranging a tour of Acton Depot
[*]A visit to the Mail Rail Museum

I'd also like to visit some of the heritage railways that are easily accessible by train from London. I've found that the Bluebell Railway, East Kent Railway, Mid Hants Railway, Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, and Epping & Ongar Railway all have very easy connections with rail journeys from London. I'm also hopeful that the Swanage Railway finalizes plans for their mainline connection at Wareham by the time we do make the journey.

My question to the rest of you... are there any other heritage railways easy to get to from London other than those above? We'd like to avoid buses if possible and use as much rail transit as we can.

Thanks in advanced!
Jesse

While you're in Brighton you can ride along the beach on Volk's Electric Railway, a highly improbable electric railway (one mile, 2 ft - 8-1/2 in gauge, 110 volts DC) with open cars -- and third rail. It runs right along the sand, with adults walking and children scampering alongside, and I guess everybody just knows to stay away from the third rail (but then it's running on electric-razor voltage).

The Bluebell Railway, reached by train from Victoria to East Grinstead, is a must. Like most, maybe all heritage railways in Britain, it's operated "by the book," and watching the engine run around the train at Sheffield Park is an experience: engine uncouples, moves up to the the siding switch, tower operator (signalman in Britain) clears the semaphore signal, engine moves over the switch. Towerman restores the signal, unlocks the switch, reverses the switch, locks the switch, clears the signal, engine moves onto the siding, signalman restores the signal, unlocks the switch, restores the switch, locks the switch, engine moves past the standing coaches to the opposite end of the siding, signalman unlocks the switch, throws the switch, locks the switch, clears the signal, engine moves over the switch, signalman restores the signal, unlocks the switch, restores the switch, locks the switch, and clears the signal for the return to the train. Engine returns to the train, signalman restores the signal, and clears the departure signal after remote release by the signalman at the next station up the line. The "Armstrong" levers are in a glassed-in cabin on the platform in clear view of onlookers as the signalman pulls and restores one lever after another, always with a rag in his hands to avoid tarnishing the highly polished lever handles, and we can't have that. I don't think these heritage railways can turn a wheel unless a couple of dozen volunteers show up every operating day, and apparently they have plenty of volunteers.

Another good one is the Severn Valley Railway from Kidderminster (the quickest way seems to be from Euston, with a change at Birmingham New Street) to Bridgnorth. Classic traditional operation with steam power and a small army of volunteers manning the intermediate stations and towers. If you go, take time while in Bridgnorth to ride the funicular from the lower town to the higher town; from the top you get a great view of the station layout down below. The line was. built in 1892 according to Wiki, with the two cars dating from 1955, but with a classic British semi-streamlined appearance which suggests the 1930's. Wikipedia has some good information on the heritage lines.

If you're interested in light rail, there are some interesting systems in South London (Croydon Tramway, accessible at Wimbledon, from Waterloo or the District Line of the Underground, and East Croydon, from Victoria or London Bridge; also in Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham, and Sheffield.

NR/Jesse: As you likely know there is a wealth of UK trainspotting videos available at YouTube...
I would like to take a similar UK trip to yours myself...if money was no object...

In case you were unaware York is 188 miles from London on the ECML - interesting that this is
almost exactly the same distance from New York Penn Station to Baltimore on the NEC...
With frequent LNER trains traveling should be easy - you would probably need a full day to visit
the NRM itself...Staying for one overnight in York may be necessary thanks to the distance from
London - the other venues that you plan to visit are relatively close to London with the Isle of
Wight and Island Line needing a single day itself for that visit...Go and enjoy rail in the UK!!!
MACTRAXX

Thanks for the suggestions and experiences exCon and MACTRAXX, I appreciate it!

Any of the little trains of Wales , but probably means a night away from London.
Unless you have to stay in London , almost anywhere else has significantly cheaper hotels.Most trains are are scheduled to get people into london in the Morning, out in the evening / night.if you get a britrail pass , there are not the time restrictions of the cheaper fare deals , which usually don't allow you to travel before 9 a.m.

Thanks for the suggestions David.

We are not specifically tied to London, I just figured having a decent hotel next to Victoria would be easy for us to access the Underground and southern region trains.

Are there any other areas outside of London that would be less expensive but provide similar connectivity?

There used to be whole streets of small hotels in various parts of London itself. Back in the 1960's and -70's there was an unbroken row of hotels on both sides of Sussex Gardens within walking distance of Paddington with full breakfast included, at very reasonable rates, but I don't know what the situation is today. Maybe someone knows of a website (there has to be one) where reliable hotel information can be found. My last visit to Britain was in 2007, so I have no up-to-date information.